Big rise in hate crimes in Canada last year
Credit to Author: Margaret Jetelina| Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2018 18:17:17 +0000
Police-reported hate crimes increase, with almost half motivated by race or ethnicity
Although hate crime in Canada has been on a slow rise since 2014, last year it saw a sharp increase — Statistics Canada says police-reported hate crime in Canada in 2017 was up 47 per cent over 2016.
In terms of actual incidents, police reported 2,073 hate crimes in 2017, compared to 664 in 2016. Incidents targeting the Muslim, Jewish and Black populations accounted for most of the national increase, with most in Ontario and Quebec.
Violent hate crimes were down a bit, though. This jump was largely the result of hate-related property crimes, such as graffiti and vandalism. Overall in 2017, 38 per cent of hate crimes were violent, down from 44 per cent in 2016.
Hate crimes motivated by race
The stats further point out that 43 per cent of 2017 hate crimes (defined as criminal incidents motivated by hatred toward an identifiable group) were motivated by race or ethnicity. Hate crimes targeting the Black population were up by more than 50 per cent, and incidents targeting Arab or West Asian populations were up by more than 27 per cent.
Hate crimes based on religion also grew by more than 80 per cent, with the biggest rise in incidents targeting Muslims. While anti-Muslim hate crimes dropped in 2016, the number of reported incidents more than doubled last year to make a total of 349. Hate crimes against the Jewish population also increased for the second consecutive year, rising from 221 in 2016 to 360 in 2017. Hate crimes against Catholics and other religions also increased last year.
“These attitudes remain prevalent in our society and this is unacceptable,” stated Brittany Andrew-Amofah, a board member with the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, in a statement. “It’s time for political leaders to unequivocally speak out against hate and intolerance and in support of a multicultural society where everyone feels safe to participate and contribute.”
With rising immigration, Canada’s population has obviously become more diverse and will only continue to be so. One-fifth of Canada’s population was foreign-born in 2016 and, by 2036, this could range from 24.5 to 30 per cent.
Hate crimes underreported
Despite the large increase, hate crimes in 2017 actually represented a small proportion of overall crime at 0.1 per cent.
But this data is only based on hate crimes reported to the police. Hate crimes are actually underreported. According to the 2014 General Social Survey on Canadians’ Safety (Victimization), Canadians self-reported being the victim of over 330,000 criminal incidents that they perceived as being motivated by hate, and two-thirds of these incidents were not reported to the police.
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“These statistics must serve as a warning against complacency and be seen as a stark reminder that hate crimes are an attack not only on individuals and their communities but on the very fabric of our society,” according to a statement from the Canada Race Relations Foundation. “The CRRF will continue to work with its partners to develop and share community-driven solutions for meeting this challenge to the Canadian values of diversity, multiculturalism and respect for every individual.”