A disturbing video that shows a mother demanding a “white doctor” who “doesn’t have brown teeth” at a Mississauga walk-in clinic is facing widespread backlash online.
Hitesh Bhardwaj was sitting in the waiting room of the Rapid Access to Medical Specialists on Sunday when a woman waiting with her young son started to berate an employee about the doctors working at the time.
Bhardwaj recorded the four-minute incident and posted it to YouTube.
In the video, the woman repeatedly demands that a “white doctor” who “speaks English” treat her son.
A female staff member can be heard telling the woman that she won’t be able to see a so-called “white doctor” until 4 p.m.
“So you’re saying, in the whole entire building there isn’t one white doctor?” the woman, whose identity is blurred in the video, says. “You’re telling me that my kid has chest pains and he’s going to have to sit here until four o’clock? Can I see a doctor that’s white, that doesn’t have brown teeth and speaks English?”
The woman proceeds to get up from her chair -- with her young son in tow -- and walks toward the front counter.
As she storms away, other patients sitting in the waiting room suggest that she go to a hospital instead.
“He’s sick and his chest is hurting, I don’t want to see a doctor who’s not white. I would like to see a white doctor and there’s no white doctor in this whole entire building,” the woman says to the employee at the counter.
“God, what type of horrible country do I live in? So I want to see somebody else who doesn’t have brown teeth and speaks English.”
'It was really shocking'
Bhardwaj, an immigrant from India, said he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Seeing it so openly without any fear and in front of so many people, without even fearing that someone can report her, it was really shocking,” he told CTV News Toronto on Monday.
“It was a mixed feeling of being angry and being frustrated. I was disturbed for the rest of the day.”
At one point, a bystander who Bhardwaj describes as a “brave young girl” confronts the perturbed woman about her actions.
“Your child has more issues with you being his mother than him needing to see a doctor,” the bystander in the video says. “You are extremely rude and racist. You want to talk about ‘Paki’ people being in a hospital? Maybe you should check yourself in.”
Other people watching the ordeal from the waiting room also start to condemn the woman, but the she doesn’t relent.
“You’re brown and you’re attacking me because I’m white. It’s because I’m white,” she says.
“Being white in this country… I should just shoot myself. My kid is part not-white, so can we get somebody to see him that at least speaks English. I spoke in English. We want someone that’s Canadian to see him.”
The woman was eventually escorted out of the waiting room without incident.
Police respond to 'disturbance' at clinic
Police were called to the clinic for reports of a “disturbance” shortly after 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
Peel Regional Police spokesperson Const. Mark Fischer said an officer spoke to all involved and afterward the woman’s son received treatment by a doctor at the clinic.
The case was closed with no charges laid since no allegations of threats or assaults were brought forward.
The clinic refused to comment on the matter when contacted by CTV News Toronto on Monday.
Woman has history of hurling racial slurs: Neighbours
But two women told CTV News Toronto they recognized the woman in the video right away. They claim they were friends with her up until a few months ago.
“It was because of her racial slurs, she was saying a lot of offensive things,” said one woman who didn't want to be identified. “I have three sons, they are all black, and I didn’t want to have that negative person around my kids.”
The other woman said, “I hope she second guesses ever doing that in public again. If you have those feelings leave them at the door when you leave your house.”
CTV News Toronto reached out to the woman in the video for an explanation Tuesday afternoon at her home. She opened the door briefly, but shut it again without answering any questions.
Neighbours in the area say there have been several altercations with the woman, claiming they have called police after she allegedly hurled racist slurs at children.
“She was calling my three and five-year-old brothers the N-word,” a woman who lives nearby said.
Peel Regional Police confirmed they have attended the residence for a neighbour dispute last summer. No charges were laid.
'No place for that kind of behaviour': Wynne
Reaction to the video has spread across social media and the country on Tuesday. The YouTube video, posted Sunday, has since garnered more than 100,000 views.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne also commented on the video.
“I was very shocked,” Wynne said. “There is no place for that kind of behaviour, that kind of racism and hatred, quite frankly, in our society.”
