This is sad but I've noticed that more and more Canadians are voicing their racist opinions, probably due to an increased amount of Chinese immigrants. Most of the time it's not as public as your scenario, but I've come across it a lot through social media sites, such as my local news articles.

I'm really glad that you went up to tell him that he was being an asshole. The world needs more people like you.

I think you were right to tell him he should keep his opinions to himself and his friends . In the UK we have a lot of eastern Europeans most of them work hard and do the jobs that others won't , but there are always the exceptions and those are the ones that we hear about the most and turn people against them

Good job.

You should have pointed out to him that true Canadians are never that rude, so he must be an immigrant too.  ;-)

NO - YOU WERE NOT WRONG!  

While everyone has a right to their opinions, and to be a racist ass, there is a time and place to voice those views, and in a restaurant ( even fast food) is NOT the place!

I wish more people had the nerve to say something in a situation like that!  

More power to you.  Much to my husband's dismay at times, I'm very vocal when it comes to racists, homophobes, and bullies.  He agrees with me completely, but doesn't want to have to kill someone if they hurt me:P  My make up does not tolerate ignorance well.  In my occupation, I deal with many nationalities.  I find the majority of the immigrants are very humble and appreciative.  It bothers me though that they seem shocked when I'm nice to them and many times if I'm not busy, initiate conversation.  Doesn't cost me a thing.  Seeing them smile is worth the effort. 

You rock Wildone. I think what you said/did was great.

Good job Mr Wildone !!

Great job!

In the US, the term "Illegal immigrant" is thrown around a lot.  I grew up knowing my father, though born in New York City, had parents that immigrated from Ireland (grandfather from Sligo and Grandmother from Dundalk - opposite sides of Ireland and met and married in NYC).  My mom is Japanese - my dad met her when he was in the military working on reparations.  My mom's dad was an architect and worked with the military in rebuilding bridges and the like and introduced my parents.  Though my mom wasn't in the US when we had internment camps, that history was something that was very powerful to me as were the asian exclusion acts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The chinese and japanese were here - and just like so many other immigrants in California, drawn with a hope for a better life.  "Illegal" just means that those who have power created laws that discriminated to keep their own kind in power.  The laws usually were not in place to deport the chinese or japanese - why bother when they provided tons of needed and cheap labor.  But if any asian thought to protest their lot - then the laws were there to say "Hey - you don't belong".  The same laws are still used to deport latino's who step out of line.

it is easy to say immigrants are ruining the country, or don't belong or some other claptrap.  It is ironic that in come cases, the families of those minorities may have been here before the families of those complaining....

Sorry for soapboxing in your blog - but I am so proud of you and ... well - I just started typing and this all flowed out.

Oh god. If only I could have witnessed that. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall of that McDonald's... wait... that doesn't sound right.

No, you wasn't wrong. I think I would have felt the same and I hope acted as you did.

However, I do hold strong views on immigration, but since I feel that is more of a political topic I will not post them here.

You have already taken the first step. Lots of people feel the way you do. Now maybe some of the people who were there will do the same. that is to speak up when they see racism being spouted that way. A rock slide can start with a single rolling pebble.If you influenced two people to stand up for what is right, and they influence two more...

Immigrants often do act differently than residents of a country. There are a select few whom do not understand the ways of a country and may come across as rude, and others whom do abuse the legal system. One major cause of concern in Vancouver was that a lot of new Chinese immigrants, because of their booming economy, were able to invest in a huge amount of real estate and may have (or might not have) played a role in the inflation in housing.

Because of this many people were enraged and quickly formed generalized negative stereotypes of all Chinese immigrants. I had to unfollow one of the facebook pages from my university because of the amount of racist bullshit that was being spewed by my fellow students.

tl;dr when things change in Canada and immigrants come (whether they are or are not the cause of change), people get their racist on.

As to how to change things...

I think we need to continue to do things like you do Steve and call people out on their bullshit. Racism in our country is due to a lack of knowledge, context, and empathy. When people group together and form schemas on other minorities and no one tells them that they're wrong, they'll continue to be racist and exacerbate the problem.

In addition, I think basic social justice courses in college and university should be made mandatory. There are too many overeducated canadian kids around who think they know homophobia, racism, feminism, etc.

I agree with Luc, we do what you've done. I am all for a peaceable way. I'm from Saskatoon, and we are growing at an amazing rate(Saskatchewan as a whole) our economy is great. A large part of that due to immigrants and I'd hope we welcome them and embrace them all.

I can only speak about  Canada and what I've observed over the years, but we are a very diverse country and becoming more so every year. And I am proud of that. We arent perfect, but our doors are open.

Thank you from a chinese guy, I find racists to be ignorant and there reasoning to be based more on fear than truth

Way to go, wild! He's not only a racist, but an ignorant bully. And bullies will rarely stand their ground when confronted in a public setting. And bullies are almost always cowards; this one obviously was.

I'm not sure where you are coming from trebs, but when I took poly-sci the term illegal alien referred to someone who came into a country in violation of existing laws at the time of their entry into the country.  It has nothing to do with how well liked a particular group is or if someone complains about their lot or steps out of line. Granted there have been issues where people have abused political power, but it is hardly fair to label immigration laws as just another form of prejudice.

Gets out her gold star stickers and hands one to Nadian.  

Good Job, Steve Steven. 

When he said: "Next he says that he isn't a racist, he just doesn't want foreigners in Canada."

You should have replied: "Funny, that's exactly what First Nations people say about you!"