Hate
crimes increase in Canada, StatsCan reports
Katherine
Laidlaw June 14, 2010 – 9:13 am The National
Post
Hate
crimes increased 35% between 2007 and 2008, according to
a report from Statistics Canada released on Monday, with
Jewish and black people the most targeted groups for attacks.
The data shows hate crimes are on the rise in each motivation
grouping: race and ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation.
Canadian
police services reported 1,036 hate crimes in 2008, with
55% of those reported motivated by race or ethnicity.
Of
all race-based attacks, blacks were targeted four out of
10 times; Jews were the subject of 165 attacks, or about
two-thirds of all religious hate crimes.
Bernie
Farber, CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said that while
the numbers are “disturbing,” he can pinpoint
the political factors contributing to spikes in hate-crime
incidents against Jews. “When there is a situation
that has developed in the Middle East, dealing with the
Jewish state of Israel, it is a truism to say hate crimes
against Jews rise,” he said. “In the timeline
that you’ve seen this increase, we’ve had the
Lebanese incursion and the Gaza war. It’s a tense
time when these things happen, and people’s most base
and hateful qualities come out.”
Mr.
Farber says he thinks the spike can also be attributed to
more victims reporting hate crimes in the last five years.
“There’s also good news here. While there’s
been a spike, the number of crimes is still not huge. It’s
still correct to say that Canada is one of the safest places
for Jews to live anywhere in the world,” he said.
“We work very closely with the police to ensure that
hate crimes are reported.”
The
largest jump in the statistics was in the hate crimes motivated
by sexual orientation category, where there were twice as
many reports in 2008 as in 2007. The report said those hate
crimes were also the most violent. Three-quarters of those
attacks were violent — meaning an assault, uttering
a threat, or worse — compared with 38% of those based
on race and 25% based on religion.
Forty-two
percent of the total reported crimes were violent. Mischief
offences, such as vandalism to property, amounted to 47%
and other non-violent offences totaled 11%.
Vancouver
and Hamilton topped the list in number of incidents for
the 10 largest metropolitan areas surveyed, each reporting
6.3 hate crimes per 100,000 people. Vancouver’s rate,
143, was nearly double its 2007 total.
Toronto reported 271 hate crimes in 2008, falling near the
middle of the 10 largest metropolitan areas surveyed at
5.4 hate crimes for every 100,000 people. Montreal had the
lowest rate, at 1 per 100,000.
The
report noted that the number of hate crimes reported by
police could be influenced by various hate crime initiatives,
or lack thereof, in the regions assessed.