Question Period Note: Police-reported Hate Crime in Canada, 2020

On March 17, 2022, the Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Statistics Canada, published the following Juristat article: “Police-reported Hate Crime in Canada, 2020”

• The Government of Canada takes the issue of hate-motivated crime very seriously.

• The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unequal impact on Canadians, with an increase in reports of harassment and attacks against Asian Canadians. All Canadians regardless of their religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity, should feel safe where they live, work, gather and/or pray.

• Since its creation, the Security Infrastructure Program has provided over $11 million in funding to more than 383 projects across Canada to enhance their security infrastructure to create safer, more secure, gathering spaces for members of the community.

• Our Government remains committed to taking action against harmful content on social media platforms, including hate speech, terrorist content, and online child sexual exploitation. These types of harmful content can undermine public safety, Canada’s national security, and social cohesion.

• We are working to introduce legislation and associated regulations to reduce the spread of illegal and harmful content, and to promote a safer and more inclusive online environment.

A hate crime is defined as a crime against a person or property and may target race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, language, sex, age, mental or physical disability, or any other similar factor.

This report examines 2020 police-reported hate crimes, meaning the timeframe reflects the first 10 months of the pandemic, during which various issues related to safety and discrimination were exposed, including hate crime.

Key findings:

Highest number of hate crimes ever reported

• In 2020, police reported 2,669 criminal incidents that were motivated by hate, the largest number recorded since data became available in 2009. The number of hate crimes increased by 37% (718 more incidents) compared with the previous year. Hate crimes have generally been increasing since 2013.

• Both hate-motivated and non-hate motivated crimes were lower during the first two months of the pandemic (March and April 2020) than they were compared to the same months in 2019. However, from May to December 2020, hate-motivated crimes were much higher than in 2019, while non-hate-motivated crimes were lower.

Both violent and non-violent hate incidents increased in 2020

• Just over half (57%) of all police-reported hate crimes were non-violent in 2020. Both non-violent (+41%) and violent hate crimes (+32%) increased over 2019. Hate-motivated crimes targeting sexual orientation and Asian populations were the incidents more likely to be violent than non-violent.

• With just over 1,000 incidents reported to police, general mischief was the most common hate offence reported to police (38% of all incidents). Incidents of “mischief in relation to property used primarily for worship or by an identifiable group” increased 47% to 159 incidents, while “public incitement of hatred” incidents increased 23% to 111 incidents in 2020.

Large increase in crimes motivated by hatred of race/ethnicity

• The overall increase in hate crimes was driven by an 80% jump in incidents targeting race or ethnicity, particularly Black and East/Southeast Asian populations. Crimes motivated by hatred of a religion dropped 16%, while those motivated by hatred of a sexual orientation remained stable.

• The most common specific motivations in 2020 were a hatred of Black (26%), Jewish (13%) and East/Southeast Asian populations (11%), as well as certain sexual orientations (10%).

• Police reported 663 hate crimes committed against the Black population, almost double that of 2019 (345). Hate crimes committed against East/Southeast Asian populations increased four-fold, from 67 incidents in 2019 to 269 in 2020. Although relatively small numbers, hate crimes committed against Indigenous people more than doubled, from 29 in 2019 to 73 in 2020.

Large increases seen in some provinces and cities

• Hate crimes rose in the majority of provinces and territories in 2020, with Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Saskatchewan all reporting increases of over 60%. The highest rates of hate-motivated crimes per 100,000 population in 2020 were found in British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta.

• Increases in British Columbia in 2020 (+198 incidents) were predominately the result of motivations related to race/ethnicity, particularly those committed against East/Southeast Asian populations, with 106 more incidents than in 2019.

• Among Canada’s largest census metropolitan areas (CMAS), Calgary (+75%), Vancouver (+62%) and Ottawa (+56%) reported the largest percentage increases in hate incidents in 2020. Ottawa (16.6) and Vancouver (13.8) reported the most hate incidents per 100,000 population.

• CMAs and areas outside of CMAs (small cities, towns and rural areas) experienced similar increases in hate crime in 2020. Rural areas accounted for 16% of Canada’s population, yet only 7% of hate crimes.

None