Question Period Note: Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate

Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate

Hate has no place in Canada. While some people are more at risk of being victims of hate-motivated crimes and incidents, we are all impacted by hate.

On September 24, the Government of Canada launched Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate to address the troubling rise in hate across the country and bring people together to build a safer and more inclusive Canada where everyone can thrive while being their authentic self.

Representing an investment of $273.6 million over 6 years, starting in 2024-25 and $29.3 million ongoing, the Action Plan brings new and existing initiatives together to foster greater coordination and collaboration among federal organizations to prevent and address hate.

As Canada’s first comprehensive federal government approach to confronting hate, this action plan aims not only to prevent and address the fissures in our society, but to foster connection, safety, belonging, and trust.

Hate has no place in Canada. While some people are more at risk of being victims of hate-motivated crimes and incidents, we are all impacted by hate.

On September 24, the Government of Canada launched Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate to address the troubling rise in hate across the country and bring people together to build a safer and more inclusive Canada where everyone can thrive while being their authentic self.

Representing an investment of $273.6 million over 6 years, starting in 2024-25 and $29.3 million ongoing, the Action Plan brings new and existing initiatives together to foster greater coordination and collaboration among federal organizations to prevent and address hate.

As Canada’s first comprehensive federal government approach to confronting hate, this action plan aims not only to prevent and address the fissures in our society, but to foster connection, safety, belonging, and trust.

According to the 2023 data released by Statistics Canada, the number of police-reported hate crimes increased from 3,612 incidents in 2022 to 4,777 in 2023 (+32%), even though some victims might not report a hate crime they experienced or police may not recognize it as a hate crime. This followed an 8% increase in 2022, and a 72% increase from 2019 to 2021. Overall, the number of police-reported hate crimes (+145%) has more than doubled since 2019.

A hate crime is a criminal act against a person or property that is motivated in whole or in part by hate or bias against an identifiable group (i.e., colour, race, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or mental or physical disability). Hate is also rooted in white supremacy, racism, colonialism, ethnonational idealism, misogyny, antisemitism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, ableism, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia.

From 2022 to 2023, hate crimes targeting Muslim individuals rose by 94% to 211; hate crimes targeting Jewish individuals rose 71% to 900; hate crimes targeting other religions (e.g., Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist) rose by 37% to 85. Hate crimes targeting sexual orientation or identity increased by 69% in 2023. Black persons continue to be targets of the greatest number of police-reported hate crimes targeting a race or an ethnicity (in 2023 they accounted for 37%).

In 2022, 73% of victims of hate crimes targeting sex or gender were women or girls; Indigenous women and girls for example, are 12 times more likely to face violence than non-Indigenous women and face a homicide rate seven times higher than non-Indigenous women. Statistics Canada highlights that incidents motivated by hatred of gender diverse people were more often violent in nature, with 80% of incidents involving violence.

According to the General Social Survey on Victimization from 2019, rates of violent victimization were almost 3 times higher among those with a disability (141 incidents per 1,000) than among those without.

Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate

Budget 2022 provided $85 million over four years, starting in 2022–2023, to Canadian Heritage to support the work to launch the new Anti-Racism Strategy (released on June 6, 2024) and an action plan on combatting hate.

Budget 2024 provides an additional $273.6 million over 6 years, starting in 2024-25, and $29.3 million ongoing to support Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate. The Action Plan brings together key initiatives led by federal departments and organisations, including Canadian Heritage, Public Safety Canada, Justice Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Women and Gender Equality Canada, Statistics Canada and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. 

The Action Plan aims to strengthen the social fabric of Canadian society by advocating for every person’s right to be safe and treated with dignity. To achieve this goal, priority areas for action are organized under three pillars:

Empower Communities to Identify and Prevent Hate;

Support Victims and Survivors, and Protect Communities; and

Build Community Trust, Partnerships and Institutional Readiness.

The Action Plan is complemented by the work of Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, and Canada’s Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia. Both will continue to advise the Government of Canada on how various government policies and programs may affect Jewish and Muslim communities in Canada.

The new Changing Narratives Fund is a component of the Action Plan. Budget 2024’s overall investment toward the Action Plan includes $10 million over three years, starting in 2024-25, to Canadian Heritage to launch the Changing Narratives Fund to better represent the stories, experiences and perspectives of diverse communities and organisations in arts, culture and media.

Public Safety Canada’s enhanced Canada Community Security Program (CCSP), which was previously called the Security Infrastructure Program, is also part of Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate. The CCSP is making it easier and more efficient for organizations and communities at risk of hate-motivated crime to access security support when they need it.

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