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quick facts

- the online rumor that "there is a warning picture against indian defecation on the beach in wasaga beach, canada" is misleading. the picture shows signs of post-processing. the incident originated from a video circulating on social platforms in july this year accusing "tourists of setting up tents on wasaga beach and digging holes in the tents to go to the toilet." however, brian smith, the mayor of wasaga beach, later came out to clarify that "no evidence has been received to confirm any bad and unhygienic behavior on the beach of wasaga beach provincial park."

- wasaga beach town ordinance no. 2019-15 defines unauthorized nuisance conduct that cannot be committed within the town, including urinating, defecating, vomiting or spitting in the open air. however, this measure does not target any ethnic group. at present, there is no evidence that there is legislation in canada that targets specific ethnic groups for public defecation.

background

recently, there were claims on social media that there were warning pictures on the beach of a small town in canada, requiring indian tourists to bury their excrement after defecation in accordance with the law, which sparked a discussion on whether it was "racial discrimination against indians."

in march this year, there was a widespread claim on social media that municipal authorities in cities with a large indian population in canada posted hindi posters in parks and beaches, asking indians not to urinate or defecate in public. the picture attached to the article showed a billboard with the theme of a man urinating or defecating in public.

check

where does this statement come from?

the online rumor cited a screenshot of a tweet from platform x user @sandraschulze. a search revealed that the tweet had appeared in july this year. @sandraschulze posted on july 29: "look at the picture my sister-in-law just sent me. on this cute little beach in wasaga, there is not even a 'no poop sign', but rather 'pick up your poop when you poop on the beach'."

the tweet was accompanied by a screenshot of text showing a youtube blogger visiting wasaga beach in wasaga, ontario, canada after a video claiming that "some people openly urinated and defecated at the beach" caused controversy.

keyword search found that in july this year, tiktok user justmenattyy posted a video accusing "tourists of setting up tents on wasaga beach and digging holes in the tents to go to the toilet", but did not provide any evidence in the form of video or pictures. the video attracted widespread attention after it was released, and many netizens directed the blame at indian immigrants in canada.

however, brian smith, the mayor of wasaga beach, later clarified: "the town has not received any evidence - whether from residents, tourists or the ontario government - to confirm that any bad, unsanitary behavior has occurred on the beach in wasaga beach provincial park. if any evidence is found, i promise we will take prompt action."

the official social account of the town of wasaga beach also published a post related to this statement. in an interview with canadian media global news, a spokesperson for the town of wasaga beach said "the answer is no" in response to the question "whether there has been a problem of public urination and defecation on the beach since 2020."

despite this, some netizens questioned smith's statement. in response, the wasaga beach town government said on its official social platform account that they had proposed a motion urging the provincial government to help formulate provincial rules, referring to the regulations prohibiting the construction of temporary buildings on town-owned beachfront land, and prohibiting the setting up of tents on the beach.

does canada have laws to restrict indians from defecating in public?

the words "by law 1234" are written below the picture provided in the online rumor, which means "according to law no. 1234". however, referring to the law documents published on the wasaga beach town government website, it can be seen that the town's law numbers are composed of "year + number", and there is no such thing as law no. 1234.

after ela identification of this image, it was found that the outline edge of the billboard was brighter than the edge of the text, and there were traces of smearing on the edge of the figure painting on the board. this shows that the text and image parts of the image are likely to have been post-processed.

after verification, the wasaga beach town government has not issued any ordinances targeting indian defecation. the town's ordinance no. 2019-15 stipulates that unauthorized nuisance behavior within the town is prohibited, including urinating, defecating, vomiting or spitting outdoors. however, this move does not target any ethnic group.

a spokesperson for the wasaga beach town government told canada's global news that "if evidence of the activity is found, those responsible may be subject to enforcement action, including fines."

currently, there is no evidence that canada has legislation against specific ethnic groups for urinating and defecating in public. the billboard image that circulated in march has also been confirmed to have been tampered with. a reverse search found that there is a similar photo on the well-known photo library website shutterstock. however, the photo circulated online has modified the man's face in the original photo, and replaced the slogan "gyae ennfatawo" in the original photo with "stop urinating and defecating in public" in hindi.

the original image on shutterstock shows that it was taken on may 1, 2018. the title of the photo is "billboards on the streets of accra say 'the beach is not a toilet'". according to ghanaian media businessghana, these billboards come from public health projects funded by canada and the united nations. since 2012, canada has been working with unicef to eliminate open defecation in african countries. therefore, at the bottom of the billboard, you can see the logo of the canadian government and the logo of the ghanaian government and unicef.

in summary, the online rumor that "there is a warning picture against indian defecation on the beach in wasaga beach, canada" is misleading. the picture shows signs of post-processing. the incident originated from a video circulating on social platforms in july this year accusing "tourists of setting up tents on wasaga beach and digging holes in the tents to go to the toilet." however, brian smith, the mayor of wasaga beach, later came out to clarify that "no evidence has been received to prove that any bad and unhygienic behavior has occurred on the beach of wasaga beach provincial park."

wasaga beach town ordinance no. 2019-15 defines unauthorized nuisance conduct that cannot be committed within the town, including urinating, defecating, vomiting or spitting outdoors. however, this measure does not target any ethnic group. currently, there is no evidence that there is legislation in canada that targets specific ethnic groups for public defecation.