City councillor Rob Ford apologized Monday for comments he made earlier this month about Toronto's Asian community.

The apology came after Ford reiterated he did not intend to offend the community by calling them Orientals rather than Asians.

He said he meant it as a compliment to their work ethic when he said "Oriental people work like dogs, they work their hearts out, they are workers non-stop. They sleep beside the machine."

Ford made the comments during a debate on March 6 about keeping stores open on statutory holidays.

"I'm telling you that's what makes them such hard workers. Those Oriental people are slowly taking over," he said then.

At a council meeting Monday morning, he offered several examples where the word Oriental was used and accepted as part of everyday vernacular.

"Will someone please explain, 'Welcome to the Faculty of Oriental Studies' at Oxford University; The School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London,' he said. "And one of my Asian constituents brought this to my attention over the weekend: At No Frills they're advertising Oriental flavour, 100 per cent pure corn starch."

He also produced a petition from 151 people from the Asian community saying there was no need for Ford to apologize.

"If I have offended anyone in the Asian community, I will proudly retract my statements," he said.

However, his colleagues on council insisted his comments were not an apology and voted 33 - 8 to have him make a formal apology.

Ford stood up and simply said, "Sorry."

Coun. Adam Vaughan, who presented his own petition where 260 members of the Asian community demanded an apology from Ford, said he wasn't impressed with his colleague's apology but that it would have to do.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Alicia Kay-Markson