A clip of a crammed wave pool attracted disparaging feedback on social media in July 2025, as customers claimed it confirmed that the majority attendees at Canada’s Wonderland had been immigrants or of Indian origin. However the Ontario amusement park confirmed to AFP that the video doesn’t present crowding at its facility and reverse picture searches reveal the footage is from Blueworld Park in India.
“Is that REALLY Canada’s Wonderland? Both means, YUCK,” reads the caption of a July 16, 2025 X video.
The video of individuals packed right into a wave pool the place many of the swimmers don’t seem like white was additionally shared to Instagram. Textual content over the footage claims it reveals Canada’s Wonderland, the nation’s largest theme park, in Ontario on Could 18, 2025.
Trying to find advertditional examples reveals the clip was additionally linked to Canada in 2024, with variations implying the gang mirrored former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s open immigration insurance policies.
Screenshot of an X publish taken July 18, 2025
Screenshot of a TikTok taken July 18, 2025
As Canada’s as soon as long-standing immigration consensus has damaged down, AFP has debunked quite a few claims about new arrivals, with many focusing on individuals who moved to the nation from India.
Feedback on the clip displayed insults and one account sharing it appeared to reference a slur for Indian folks in its deal with.
In June 2025, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue suppose tank reported a rising pattern of anti-South Asian hate speech unfold by Canadian extremist accounts amidst excessive immigration charges and heightened anxieties over housing availability and unemployment (archived right here).
Whereas customers implied the video supposedly confirmed numerous Indian immigrants in Canada, the clip was truly filmed at a wave pool on the opposite aspect of the world
“That isn’t Canada’s Wonderland,” stated Grace Peacock, a spokeswoman for the park, in a July 17 electronic mail.
Reverse picture search outcomes for the clip present the environment match different movies shared on-line and tagged at Blueworld Park in Kanpur, India (archived right here).
Social media posts claimed to have been taken at Blueworld and from the theme park’s personal Instagram web page equally show the wave pool misleadingly labeled as being in Canada (archived right here and right here), with the distinctive multi-color slides and the palace-inspired theme park resort within the background (archive right here).
Satellite tv for pc pictures of the park on Google Maps additionally match the slides and buildings seen within the video (archived right here).
Pictures shared by customers to Google Maps for Blueworld Park additionally visually match the misrepresented video (archived right here).
Screenshot taken July 18, 2025 of a picture shared to Google Maps with highlights added by AFP
In contrast, official pictures of the “White Water Bay” wave pool at Wonderland present it’s positioned subsequent to a rollercoaster with a yellow observe.
Screenshot of the Wonderland web site picture taken July 18, 2025
Learn extra of AFP’s reporting on misinformation in Canada right here.
