City hate crimes up 40% last year

Israel-hamas war, clashes over gender, sexuality fuel rise: London police report

Hate crimes jumped by nearly 40 per cent in London last year, with the Israel-hamas war and clashes over gender and sexuality cited as contributing factors, new police statistics show.

London police recorded 111 hate crimes last year, up from 80 the year before and 30 five years ago, according to a report going to the city's police board Thursday.

The numbers come as no surprise to a leading hate researcher in Ontario, where hate crimes have been on the rise in recent years.

“It's going to be a busy year for me, I'm afraid,” said Barbara Perry, director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa.

The London report tracks both hate- and bias-motivated crimes — offences committed against a person or property motivated by hate, bias or prejudice based on real or perceived factors — and hate incidents including hostile speech and other behaviours that may be motivated by bias, but aren't criminal.

There were 192 hate-related occurrences last year, up from 163 in 2022 and 61 in 2019, said the report that highlighted the link between the incidents and larger societal factors.

“In 2023, this was exemplified by the impact of the Israel-hamas war, and the influence of protests relating to gender diversity and inclusion, on reports of hate/bias motivated crimes and incidents across Canada,” the nine-page report says. "Within London, the data suggests that these events have also been impactful at a local level, contributing to the broader picture of criminal and non-criminal hate experienced by community members.”

The most-targeted group was the LGBTQ2+ community, whose members reported 50 occurrences, a 67 per cent increase over the previous year. Twelve of those occurrences were reported in June, when Pride events are held.

Pride events in London and across Canada in recent years have drawn protesters opposed to drag queen story time, where men dressed in drag read books to children, sometimes resulting in violence.

Members of the Muslim community, the third-most-targeted group, reported 29 occurrences last year, representing the largest increase of 263 per cent. Nearly two-thirds of those occurrences happened after Oct. 7, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel that killed more than 1,200 people and prompted Israel to invade Gaza, killing more than 35,000.

Members of the Jewish community, who reported 26 occurrences last year, a 24 per cent increase from the prior year, with half of those incident happening after Oct. 7.

Perry said crimes targeting Muslims and Jews tend to rise when Mideast tensions flare. “Given that we're such a multicultural and immigrant-rich country, those conflicts are affecting people in very personal ways, their families are being affected . . . they're going to react, as well.”

“When we see incidents of terrorism in other countries, there's often backlash here . . . it's a very common pattern,” Perry said, citing the anti-muslim backlash following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

After a 2022 request from the police board, the seven-member civilian body overseeing policing in the city, the hate crime report includes demographic information —age, gender and race — on suspects and victims in cases where they've been identified.

Males were most likely to be both the alleged perpetrators (56 per cent of cases) and the victims (38 per cent of cases) of hate crimes. Of the 126 occurrences where a suspect was identified, 74 per cent were white, 15 per cent Arab and five per cent Black. Property damage was the leading crime, followed by violent incidents and threats, the report said.

Police laid a record 74 criminal charges in hate- and bias-motivated incidents last year, twice the 2022 total. There's no specific hate crime charge in Canada, but Crown attorneys can prosecute incidents as hate crimes, a factor considered in sentencing.

The report also highlighted the training police officers undergo and the outreach services offered related to hate crimes. For example, the force's hate crime officer, Const. Guled Mohamed, now personally contacts every complainant to offer additional supports and guidance.

“This initiative is a reassurance protocol which will be continued . . . so that all victims, individually and collectively, will be provided supports,” the report said.

Perry predicts hate occurrences will continue to rise in Canada, with the approach of an election in the U.S. and increase polarization at home playing roles in the rise.

“I'm afraid it shows no signs of letting up,” she said.