The amount of hate crimes in Canada based on race or ethnicity increased for the fourth year in a row in 2022, according to the newest report on hate crimes by Statistics Canada.
Most of the increase in hate crimes were against Black people, and the number of hate crimes targeting sexual orientation also went up for the second year in a row. Supporters of Black and LGBTQ2S+ people in Canada say they are not shocked by these patterns – they witness these crimes and their effects happen in real time.
“We see it everywhere – on the ground, in the calls we get every day, in the news, and online,” said Danette Edwards, who is temporarily in charge of legal matters at the Toronto-based Black Action Legal Centre, during a phone interview with the News team.
“I’m not surprised. ” It’s very sad, disappointing, and distressing. But is it surprising. No, it’s not.
Furthermore, StatCan says that the report probably doesn’t show the true number of hate crimes in Canada in 2022. This is because the data only includes crimes reported to the police.
Helen Kennedy is aware that a lot of hate crimes are not told to the police. Canada’s Justice Department thinks that only 1 out of 10 crimes are actually reported to the police.
Kennedy, who leads a LGBTQ2S+ advocacy group called Egale Canada, said that people in the community don’t always feel safe or comfortable telling the police about hate crimes.
“They don’t want their secret to be revealed. ” She told the News team that they don’t want to feel embarrassed. When you go to the police, it can make things worse for you. They may not believe you or listen to you.
We have some numbers.
Although there are some missing information, StatCan’s report shows that hate crimes against certain groups in Canada have been happening more often in the last few years.
The number of hate crimes against Black people reported by the police went up by 28 percent in 2022. This means there were 182 more incidents than the year before. There were also more hate crimes against Black people than against any other race or ethnic group.
In 2022, more than half of the increase in hate crimes against a particular race or ethnic group targeted Black people.
In 2022, hate crimes against South Asians increased for the third year in a row, going up by 143% since 2019 and 18% since 2021.
More violent hate crimes happened in 2022. The number of people hurt or killed in these crimes went up.
The amount of hate crimes against religious groups went down by 15% in 2022, but may have gone up again since the Israel-Hamas war started. Some cities have seen more crimes against Muslims and Jews in the past few months.
In Canada, hate crimes are when someone hurts or damages things because of a person’s race, religion, nationality, where they are from, who they like, their gender or if they have a disability. The Criminal Code of Canada defines hate crimes as different types of crimes like assault, vandalism, and hate speech.
“Many of the people we help have been hurt or threatened because they are Black, by security officers, police, at work, or in a store,” said Edwards, who gives free legal help to Black communities in Ontario.
“The expressions cover a wide range, but I believe almost every client who has visited us has been a victim of a hate crime in some form.”
Edwards said that these crimes can really affect how victims feel mentally, and can make them feel less safe and included. She’s watched people tell their stories calmly, but then they end up crying. Some people who are targeted because of hate crimes can have really bad mental health problems. This can make it hard for them to do well at work or school, and can also make it tough for them to have good relationships with friends and family. This can have a big impact on society as a whole.
“The person who goes through this experience has a big impact on their mental health and the whole community feels it more than other crimes,” Edwards explained.
“It’s not only about what Bob or Jim did wrong. ” It’s a wrong against all Black people.
Kennedy has observed this happening in the LGBTQ2S+ community as well. It makes people feel scared and not safe.
In 2022, there were 491 hate crimes against people because of their sexual orientation. Almost 74% of these crimes were aimed at gay and lesbian people. The rest of the group included people who are not straight, like asexual and pansexual people, as well as bisexuals and victims whose sexual orientation was not known.
StatCan won’t tell us the numbers for 2023 until later, but Kennedy said it’s clear that hate towards some LGBTQ2S+ people has gotten worse since 2022.
“There is a lot of negativity and violence towards transgender people in North America right now,” she said.
‘People think they deserve special treatment. ‘
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service recently said that the LGBTQ2S+ community may be in danger of violent attacks from extremists in the coming years. The warning was given during a big discussion across the country about Alberta’s plan to make it harder for transgender young people to get the care they need.
Kennedy says that some of the increase in violence against LGBTQ2S+ people in Canada is because of policies that are against transgender people and comments from political leaders that are against transgender people.
“I believe that people feel more confident in committing these crimes. ” They feel like their political leaders are saying similar things and supporting them. “People think it’s okay to say and do mean things to queer people. ”
Edwards believes that the increase in reports of hate crimes against Black people may be because more Black people now feel comfortable reporting these crimes to the police after George Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.
However, she mentioned that there are also other important factors that are likely involved as well.
She said the pandemic clearly had a big impact, as we can see from the numbers. “I also feel like people were more comfortable expressing their hateful opinions because they thought they were protected by free speech. ”
Kennedy and Edwards both said we need to teach people to be against hate in a more active way all over the country to fight against these things.
Kennedy said that if we focus on improving the education system, it could help stop violence and bullying in schools. This would also help to solve some of the main problems causing these issues.
Then there’s the law aspect. Canada’s Criminal Code lists and forbids many hate-motivated crimes, but Edwards believes the system for punishing these crimes isn’t very good.
She said the issue is with making sure the rules are followed.
StatCan says that in 2022, less than a third of hate crimes reported to police were solved, while 34 per cent of other crimes were solved.
“Once you tell the police about a hate crime, how much can they do to punish the people who did it. ” Edwards asked”The system that deals with criminals is very busy, so these crimes don’t get much attention. “