‘You’re not wanted’: Newcomer to Canada says racism forced him onto streets

Advocates working with asylum seekers are sounding the alarm, saying they're hearing more stories of racism in Canada. One man in Quebec says he was forced from his home.

After fleeing Uganda, Kateregga Raymond Calvin’s mind is more at ease than when he first arrived in Canada just over a year ago.

The refugee claimant was being harassed so he sought a new life in what he describes as a “peaceful” country. Calvin was able to find a place to call home in Montreal, but that’s when the problems started within his apartment building.

“My neighbours started bullying me. So I was literally kicked out of the house,” Calvin, 25, said in an interview Thursday.

The newcomer was the victim of racial taunts from other tenants, who he says targeted his dark skin and accent. At one point, Calvin claims he was told he was “not needed in this country.”

“Like, ‘You’re refugee, you’re an asylum seeker, you’re nothing in this country,'” Calvin said, describing the jeers.

Calvin began feeling isolated and unwanted. The racism became so untenable that he approached his landlord, who he says told him to move out.

“It’s very hard to live where you’re not wanted,” Calvin said.

With no other choice but to leave, he wound up out on the streets last January.