Saskatchewan Filipino family verbally abused in local Calgary park
Posted May 13, 2022 7:33 pm.
Last Updated May 13, 2022 7:35 pm.
A family visiting from Saskatoon was confronted with verbal abuse in a Calgary park.
Tense moments were caught on video as a Filipino family from Saskatoon was verbally assaulted by a stranger in the East Village.
“As soon as I heard her saying go back to your own country or speak English, that’s the time when I started recording,” said Khamille Ballesteros, the person involved in the verbal abuse incident.
Khamille and her family were visiting Calgary on vacation from Saskatoon. Staying at a nearby hotel, they decided to visit the wheel of women plaza in East Village but their plans for a relaxing afternoon were soon dashed after they were verbally assaulted.
“They were speaking Ilocano, just minding our own business and having a nice day. My auntie said she apparently tapped her. When she turned around she saw the girl and she said, “Speak English, you’re in Canada if you’re not speaking English go back to your own country,” said Ballesteros.
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She says they didn’t see the woman coming and out of nowhere she started brazenly confronting them for speaking their language.
Unfortunately, she says this isn’t the first time something like this has happened to her family.
“My auntie has dealt with a lot of racist people. That wasn’t her first time so she knows how to control her emotions,” said Ballesteros.
She says the whole ordeal left her young niece shaken for the rest of the day.
“My auntie and my niece were there, and my niece started crying because of her.
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She was cursing, it was just a crazy day,” said Ballesteros.
She says she later decided to post the video on Tik Tok after discussing the incident with her parents.
She says they wanted to spread awareness on how racist encounters like this still happen.
The video has since received over 300,000 views and has been shared across various accounts.
