A speaker at last week’s Black Lives Matter protest in Kamloops is hoping a particular question often asked to people of colour is done away with forever.

Leslie Carty tells NL News that question is the dreaded, ‘where are you from?’ and the often asked follow up, ‘where are you really from?’

“It’s not asked because they want to know me,” he said. “They just want to know where this black guy is from. It’s not my hometown Toronto where I was born, its where my ancestors are from. Why you want to know that? I don’t ask people that.”

Carty, a fifth generation Canadian, says while the question seems innocuous – to a person of colour, it is a loaded question.

“That question is forcing me to justify why I am here, and nobody should have to put up with that,” he added.

“People of colour don’t ask other people of colour that, unless they know them, and they’re actually having a conversation and it comes up. I don’t ask that question because I hate that question.”

Carty adds its important for people of all races to keep the dialogue that was started in recent weeks going, as he says he is confident is will lead to change in Canada and elsewhere.