OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says police-reported hate crimes showed a five per cent increase in 2015, led by a rise in the number of incidents directed at Muslims. Some facts about the findings:
— Hate crimes are defined in the Criminal Code as criminal incidents motivated by hatred toward an identifiable group over factors including race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, language, sex, age, mental or physical disability.
— The code also contains four specific offences listed as hate crimes: advocating genocide, public incitement of hatred, wilful promotion of hatred, and mischief motivated by hate in relation to religious property.
— In 2015, police reported a total of 1,362 criminal incidents motivated by hate, up 67 from the previous year.
— They said 35 per cent of these hate crimes, 469 incidents in all, were motivated by religious hatred.
— Incidents directed at Muslims rose to 159 in 2015 from 99 in 2014. This was 12 per cent of all hate crimes.
— Incidents directed at the Jewish population declined to 178 from 213. This was 13 per cent of all hate crimes.
— Hate crimes motivated by race or ethnicity increased five per cent.
— Much of this increase was a result of more hate crimes targeting Arab and West Asian populations, which rose 33 per cent, although hate crimes directed against black populations remained the most common type of hate crime related to race or ethnicity, involving 17 per cent of the total.
— Hate crimes targeting sexual orientation declined nine per cent in 2015, to 141 incidents from 155 incidents the previous year.
— Increases were reported in eight of 10 provinces, with the biggest jump coming in Alberta, where the number of police reported incidents rose 39 per cent, to 193 incidents from 139 the previous year.
— In Ontario, which historically records close to half the total number of hate crimes in Canada, the number of police-reported incidents dropped by five per cent in 2015. The decrease was attributed to fewer incidents movtivated by hatred against the Jewish religion and the black population.
The Canadian Press
