Two Muslim sisters in St. John's speak about a man who approached them and shouted in their faces, then hit the 15-year-old sister on the head.

Asmahan Al-Salloum, 18 years old, recorded the May 7 incident on video, which the Canadian Press Agency reviewed. The video shows an elderly white man with a short gray beard and an orange hat shouting "I don't know what you will do" before hitting Malak Al-Salloum, who is 15 years old.

Malak said she wants to encourage people to defend themselves. She said, "(It doesn't matter your skin color, where you are from, how you live)." "Don't let anyone hurt you," Asmahan, who is of Syrian origin, said, "We arrived in St. John's with our family about seven years ago."

They and their colleague at work, all wearing hijabs, had taken out the trash from a fast food restaurant where they work.

Asmahan said he quickly began shouting racist insults. She said, "We were speaking Arabic and he didn't respond."

"At first, we thought he was joking, but then it became serious." Asmahan said they called the Newfoundland police that night and handed the video to the officers.

But in the following weeks, the police tried to contact them and then sent an officer to their father and asked if the police could share a still image from the video to publish pictures of the suspect to help identify the man.

Asmahan said, "They never called back after that." "That’s why we assumed they didn’t take it seriously, or maybe they didn’t care."

James Cadigan, a police spokesperson, said on Thursday that they are actively investigating the incident, no charges have been filed, and the police have not issued any alerts indicating they are searching for the man in the video or seeking information about what happened.

Cadigan could not specify whether the suspect has been identified or why an advisory report has not been issued.

Subia Sheikh, head of the Newfoundland and Labrador Anti-Racism Alliance, questioned the police response and said in an interview, "We need the government to take a strong stance speaking about this incident, that this is unacceptable."

This incident follows incitement at a mosque in St. John’s on March 15. Sheikh said that hate and racism incidents against Muslims and others who suffer racism are increasing in the province, especially against women.