‘What are you?’: Vancouver’s ‘serial racist’ filmed in another anti-Chinese rant
By Carl Samson
March 24, 2023
A man now dubbed as Vancouver’s “serial racist” has been caught in yet another anti-Chinese rant, this time at a new dessert shop in the Canadian city.
The man, identified by Richmond News as Peter Hanssens, appears to have a well-documented history of harassing Asian people, typically claiming to be a lawyer and demanding that they “go back to China” each time.
The latest incident occurred at an Asian dessert shop called Hui Lau Shan on Buswell Street and Cook Road.
In the video posted on TikTok, Hanssens can be seen arguing with one of the shop’s servers, challenging her nationality in front of another worker.
“So what are you? Are you a Canadian?” Hanssens questions. “I’m asking you a question, are you a Canadian? If you’re saying you’re Chinese, then go back to China.”
TikTok user @patpatchoichoi, who posted the video, claimed that the incident started after the then-unidentified Hanssens came in to use the shop’s washroom and complained about a lack of English in their menu. He then allegedly verbally attacked the server, whom he also accused of being “disrespectful.”
Hanssens has been filmed making anti-Chinese rants in at least three incidents since 2020.
The first involved a group of friends who were waiting for their lunch at the Vancouver Convention Center. For no apparent reason, Hanssens allegedly approached them and started talking about his views on China and Chinese people.
He told the group: We’re frigging mad… When the Chinese immigrate, that’s a conscious decision, right? They immigrate here, they learn English, right? They accept Canadian culture, and they act accordingly, right? They don’t change Richmond or wherever else they go into Little China.
He added, “We expect them to learn English, and we expect them to blend into the Canadian culture… They are no longer in shing ging or bing bing or ding ding – whatever you want to call it.”
Hanssens eventually walked away from the group. As the video went viral, he penned an apology via Richmond News, saying he was “the guilty party who made unwarranted and racist remarks to an innocent party of people waiting in line for lunch.”
It would not be the last time, however.
The following year, Hanssens showed up to a Stop Asian Hate rally in Richmond-Brighouse Canada Line station.
He allegedly got involved in a “heated argument” with one of the rally’s volunteers.
“If you want to still live like you are in China, stay in China. Eat your Chinese food…I am angry at the Chinese culture,” he says in a video of the incident, which was posted on Facebook.
At one point, he also states: “You’re no different than any other culture, you’re not special and you give that impression.”
The third incident occurred last August at the same train station.
The moment was also caught in a viral TikTok video by bystander Donna Damaso, who intervened in the situation.
“If we have to bend over backward to accommodate, then that’s a problem. Why do we have to bend over backwards? You move to Japan, you speak Japanese,” Hanssens tells Damaso in the video.
Hanssens claimed to be a lawyer in at least two of the incidents. Following a complaint, the Law Society of British Columbia reportedly issued Hanssens a warning to stop making such representations.
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