WATCH VIDEO: ‘Native Canadian’ woman accuses Indians of littering during Canada Day celebrations, says ‘you should be ashamed’
Canada Day is celebrated annually on July 1 to commemorate the anniversary of the Constitution Act of 1867, which united Canada’s first provinces into one country. The country is filled with festivities, with families and friends hosting parties and dinners to celebrate the day.Recently, a video from Calgary’s Canada Day celebrations has gained a lot of attention on social media, sparking debate online. In the video, a woman who calls herself a “local” is seen clashing with Indian volunteers who are handing out free food for littering in a park.In a video posted on platforms such as When the man said, “You share your land with us,” Lace responded, “We share our land. We don’t treat our land like this. All of you should be ashamed,” before asking people, mostly Sikhs and South Asians, to “pick up some trash.”The woman turned to the piles of rubbish in the park and argued people shouldn’t wait until the event was over to clean up. “This is not how we treat Canada,” Rice said, asking “everyone to bend down and pick up some trash.”Visibly disturbed by the sight, Lace took out a plastic bag from the food stall and began collecting rubbish with her daughters. “My girls and I attended the free Canada Day BBQ at Prairie Winds Park today. I feel everyone should understand the impact this event has on the land and we must be more vocal about this issue!!! Please share!!!,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
social media reaction
Later, Lace took a plastic bag from the food stall and started collecting garbage with her daughters.
The video quickly went viral, with netizens accusing the organizers of littering.“She is right, I am Indian and we Indians need to show better citizenship,” one user wrote.Another added: “Canada should have ICE too.”“She is 100% right, as immigrants it is our responsibility to learn and protect Canadian culture,” one user wrote.“I think if there was a fine of US$1,000 per piece of rubbish, people would stop littering. This would work in Singapore,” one person suggested.
What happened?
The incident occurred on July 1 when Calgary’s Ahmadiyya Muslim Community held a Canada Day event at Prairie Winds Park. In a June 17 Facebook post, the community announced free barbecue and veggie burgers for everyone in the park starting July 1. On the same day, Calgary’s Guru Nanak Free Kitchen also set up a booth offering free ice cream. After the conflict unfolded on social media, the nonprofit organization posted on Facebook clarifying that “the paper plates, napkins, cups and other food service items shown in the video are not from GNFK.”The post added that collecting trash after such a significant event takes time and “volunteers from Guru Nanak Free Kitchen and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community stayed after the event to help clean up the park”.Eventually, volunteers cleared the space and shared photos of the same on Facebook. Organizers also claimed Lace’s concerns were valid and invited her to attend their future events. In accepting the invitation, Lacey insisted that she was “not opposed to the mission” and that “there are better ways to be involved in the community.”“For those who thought they wouldn’t clean up, they kept their word. As they said from the beginning, they cleaned everything up after the event. If you want to verify for yourself, check out the Facebook page Guru Nanak Free Kitchen Calgary. They posted photos and videos showing the entire area being cleaned up afterwards. Let’s judge people based on facts, not assumptions,” one person wrote.
