Canadian was fired by Tim Hortons 'for calling it out for hiring Indians'? It's more complicated than that...

A Canadian woman has complained that she was fired by coffee chain Tim Hortons after she allegedly called out the management for "hiring only Indians", and her social media post is going viral.

What is troubling, however, is that reactions to the post, while mostly sympathetic to her, are full of racial stereotypes about Indians. 

A reaction post that is going viral on X is made by social media user @Klaus_Arminius, who is openly racist and white supremacist, going by his articles on different platforms like Medium. He describes himself on X as an independent reporter, covering the antiWhite and migrant stories the media ignores". And a Medium article by him has a headline describing a Black Lives Matter activist as: "Zyahna Bryant: The Face of Black Supremacy and Antiwhite Hatred."

The allegation by the woman, and many who latched on to her post online, is that Indian managers predominantly hire fellow Indians.

But here is some context: Currently, due to the sudden change in the immigration policies of the Justin Trudeau government, many Indians including students cannot work in full-time jobs. They are scrambling to survive and applying by the thousands for part-time jobs as waiters and servants, including at restaurant chains including Tim Hortons.

Also read: ‘Unfair to Indians,’ Canada witnesses massive protests as 70,000 students face deportation

As the cost of living and boarding in Canada skyrockets, the Indians - many of them fearing deportation due to arbitrary policy changes- are desperately looking for jobs. Due to the sheer number of applicants who happen to be Indians, it is quite possible that they might be getting these jobs more than other ethnicities. There may even be a possibility that these students are underpaid, which makes the employers hire them more, though evidence of this is only anecdotal.

Watch | Indians protest against changes in Canada's immigration policy

While some of the reactions to the woman's social media posts were gentle, arguing for fairness in hiring practices, most were plain racist. For that reason, we are not reprinting them here.

Some commentators even saw parallels with the IT industry, alleging that in the US, Canada and Germany, Indian managers hire only Indians. Some of them even saw a conspiracy in the fact that Microsoft and Google have Indian CEOs- Satya Nadella and Sunder Pichai respectively - assuming they got their jobs just because they were Indians, and not because of any merit.

Also read: Thousands of Indian students line up for waiter jobs amid unemployment crisis in ‘Trudeau’s Canada’

Some months ago, an Indian student shared a video in Toronto showing long queues of applicants looking for a job in Tim Hortons. Similarly this past week, a video went viral showing a long queue of students, mostly from India, outside the Tandoori Flame restaurant in Canada, waiting for job interviews.

Racist commentators should do well to think about why this happens.

One, there's unemployment in Canada, with more applicants than jobs.

Second, immigrants, including some well-educated ones, are doing service jobs because they cannot work full time, and are applying in sectors and jobs that most Canadians would not normally do as they are low-paying and in many cases, menial.

And third, the whole situation is a result of Canada overselling itself as a dream destination for migrants for jobs and higher education, without being able to provide even the basics like accommodation, given its massive housing crisis.

(With inputs from agencies)