Toronto

'It's my f--king province,' man yells at Muslim family near Toronto ferry terminal

A Muslim father said he was shocked when a man started berating him and his family near Toronto's Jack Layton Ferry Terminal on Monday.

WARNING: This article contains video with offensive language

A video circulating on social media shows a heated exchange between a man and a family at the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal. (Hasan Ahmed/Facebook)

When Hasan Ahmed decided to visit Toronto for the first time with his wife and two children from Saskatoon, the last thing he says he expected to see was a man yelling racist insults at a Muslim family. 

Ahmed shot video of a man berating and shoving a group of people at the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal. The video has gone viral with over 350,000 views on Facebook.

Ahmed was waiting with his family to buy tickets to Centre Island that afternoon when he saw a commotion near the ticket booth. 

He says a blonde man wearing a Hawaiian shirt started following a family and shouting insults.

"He was swearing, pushing people and telling this family to get out of the province," he said. 

Ahmed said he called police immediately and waited more than 20 minutes for officers to arrive. 

Toronto police say they responded to calls about an assault at the terminal around 6:30 p.m. on Monday but no arrests were made.

In that time he pulled out his phone and started filming the incident.

"It was racist," said Ahmed. 

"I was thinking he was going to hit the family and I was worried." 

Heated exchange came as a shock

The four-minute long video shows the blonde man confronting a younger bearded man and getting into a heated exchange. 

The situation escalated to verbal and physical threats between the two men.  

The man repeatedly screams expletives toward the family. 

"I don't give a f--k. You don't tell me what to do in my province," he said. "You don't ask me a f--king question.  It's my f--king province."

The bearded man responds by saying he was born in Toronto. 

Ahmed says witnessing the incident really shook his family up. 

"My daughter is nine years old and my son is 12 years old. We're Muslim too. My wife and my daughter wear a hjijab as well and they were so scared."

In the eight years Ahmed has lived in Canada, he says it's the first time his family has ever experienced any sort of confrontation.

But he says the incident allowed him to have an important conversation with his children.  

"There are some bad people in this world but they aren't all bad. Toronto is a great a city and we won't let this one incident stop us from coming back," he said. 

Police say they have spoken to the man involved, but so far no charges have been laid.