Article content

One of my first experiences with racism in Canada unfortunately came within days of me arriving in this country, almost literally fresh off a 21 hour journey from my hometown of Penang, Malaysia.

It was early September 2005, the end of summer, and I was sitting on a bench in the courtyard (we called it ‘the quad’) of Trinity College at the University of Toronto, where I would spend the next four years.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Opinion: On multiple occasions, Trudeau felt it was comical to imitate people of colour. That's astonishing Back to video

A strange conversation was taking place next to me: two white girls were discussing their skin tone, specifically how “dark” they had gotten over the summer. Then I distinctly heard one girl ask the other: “Am I as dark as her yet?”

They glanced over at me, suppressing giggles, and quickly looked away. I suppose this was 2005, pre-Kardashians, when tanning yourself orange was far from fashionable.

I’m calling the comment racist now, because that is exactly what it was. At the time however, I just remember a lurch in my gut, a strange feeling of discomfort, and even worse, an instinct to smile at them, to acknowledge the “joke” and just kind of go along with it.