Hate crimes in Canada, particularly those against the Jewish faith, rose significantly in 2009, according to a Statistics Canada report released Tuesday.
Hate crimes reported to police jumped by 42 percent, the agency said, increasing to four incidents a day from fewer than three a day in 2008. In all, police services reported 1,473 hate crimes in 2009, up from 1,036 the year earlier.
While increases were seen in all three main categories of hate crimes—race, religion, and sexual orientation—incidents motivated by religion jumped by 55 percent in 2009, by race, 35 percent, and by sexual orientation, 18 percent.
Of the hate crimes reported to police, 54 percent were motivated by race or ethnicity, 29 percent by religion, and 18 percent by sexual orientation.
Most clashes motivated by religion involved Jews, with the number of cases rising by 71 percent from 2008 to 2009.
With 283 hate crimes against Jews reported in 2009, Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada said the Statistics Canada findings serve as a “wake-up call.”
“We are very disturbed by the findings of this study,” said B’nai Brith Canada Frank Dimant in a statement.
“Not only did the number of hate crimes rise in general, but the role of religion as a motivating factor has become more pronounced, which is a threat to all religious minorities. This is a direct challenge to the values of our multicultural society.”
Dimant said the report is consistent with B’nai Brith Canada’s League of Human Rights’ annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, which has tracked anti-Semitic activities in Canada over the past decade.
The organization called on all levels of government and law enforcement agencies to “dedicate further resources to combating anti-Semitism and hate crimes of all kinds.”
Regionally, hate crimes increased mostly in four metropolitan areas: Ottawa, Toronto, Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, and Montreal.
Among racial groups, the largest increase involved hate crimes against Arabs or West Asians, which doubled from 37 incidents in 2008 to 75 in 2009. Blacks continued to be the most commonly targeted racial group, accounting for 272 incidents in 2009, and about 38 percent of all racially-motivated incidents.
Violent offences, such as assault, accounted for about 4 in 10 hate crimes reported by police. Violent offences were more common among hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation.
The agency noted that the number of hate crimes in its study likely undercounts the true extent of hate crime in Canada, as not all crimes are reported to police. Self-reported victimization data from Canadians suggests that about one-third of incidents perceived by respondents to have been motivated by hate were subsequently reported to police.
In March, four Edmonton men were charged with criminal harassment and assault in connection with offences police say were motivated by hate.
The incidents took place Feb. 12 when the men were seen handing out flyers about Blood and Honour, an international white supremacist group.
The men entered several establishments on Whyte St. in Edmonton and allegedly made hateful or racist comments to anyone who was non-white, according to news reports. A young man was intimidated with racial slurs and punched, as was a 30-year-old woman and a man who came to her aid.
Hate crimes reported to police jumped by 42 percent, the agency said, increasing to four incidents a day from fewer than three a day in 2008. In all, police services reported 1,473 hate crimes in 2009, up from 1,036 the year earlier.
While increases were seen in all three main categories of hate crimes—race, religion, and sexual orientation—incidents motivated by religion jumped by 55 percent in 2009, by race, 35 percent, and by sexual orientation, 18 percent.
Of the hate crimes reported to police, 54 percent were motivated by race or ethnicity, 29 percent by religion, and 18 percent by sexual orientation.
Most clashes motivated by religion involved Jews, with the number of cases rising by 71 percent from 2008 to 2009.
With 283 hate crimes against Jews reported in 2009, Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada said the Statistics Canada findings serve as a “wake-up call.”
“We are very disturbed by the findings of this study,” said B’nai Brith Canada Frank Dimant in a statement.
“Not only did the number of hate crimes rise in general, but the role of religion as a motivating factor has become more pronounced, which is a threat to all religious minorities. This is a direct challenge to the values of our multicultural society.”
Dimant said the report is consistent with B’nai Brith Canada’s League of Human Rights’ annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, which has tracked anti-Semitic activities in Canada over the past decade.
The organization called on all levels of government and law enforcement agencies to “dedicate further resources to combating anti-Semitism and hate crimes of all kinds.”
Regionally, hate crimes increased mostly in four metropolitan areas: Ottawa, Toronto, Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, and Montreal.
Among racial groups, the largest increase involved hate crimes against Arabs or West Asians, which doubled from 37 incidents in 2008 to 75 in 2009. Blacks continued to be the most commonly targeted racial group, accounting for 272 incidents in 2009, and about 38 percent of all racially-motivated incidents.
Violent offences, such as assault, accounted for about 4 in 10 hate crimes reported by police. Violent offences were more common among hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation.
The agency noted that the number of hate crimes in its study likely undercounts the true extent of hate crime in Canada, as not all crimes are reported to police. Self-reported victimization data from Canadians suggests that about one-third of incidents perceived by respondents to have been motivated by hate were subsequently reported to police.
In March, four Edmonton men were charged with criminal harassment and assault in connection with offences police say were motivated by hate.
The incidents took place Feb. 12 when the men were seen handing out flyers about Blood and Honour, an international white supremacist group.
The men entered several establishments on Whyte St. in Edmonton and allegedly made hateful or racist comments to anyone who was non-white, according to news reports. A young man was intimidated with racial slurs and punched, as was a 30-year-old woman and a man who came to her aid.
