Hate crime increase becomes ‘the new normal’
Police called to three different Markham schools vandalized with anti-Semitic and anti-Black graffiti
In one part of the GTA, three schools were plastered with anti-Semitic and anti-Black graffiti. In another, a Muslim woman’s car window smashed, with “derogatory” comments spray-painted on her property.
Hate crimes are nothing new, but religious groups are sounding the alarms as they appear to be on the rise.
“We continue to see a trend of a high level of antiSemitic incidents in Canada going back to 2012,” said Aidan Fishman, the interim national director of B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights.
On Sunday, York Regional Police were called to three different Markham schools near Hwy. 7 and Wooten Way, which had each been vandalized with anti-Semitic and anti-Black graffiti. The messages referenced the KKK and “white power” and also compared the Jewish Star of David symbol to a swastika.
Police believe the same suspects are responsible for all three incidents.
That same day, 28-year-old Matthew Wight was driving his car in Brampton when he unexpectedly stopped in front of the driveway of a home, made a racial slur toward a man standing there and proceeded to attack him, unprovoked.
Peel police charged Wight with assault causing bodily harm in what they called a “hate-motivated crime.” The 31-year-old victim was treated for serious facial injuries in hospital.
Two days earlier, Durham police responded to a Pickering home, where a Muslim woman’s car window had been smashed and spray-painted with graffiti, along with profane words painted on her driveway.
“We continue to see a trend of a high level of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada going back to 2012.”
AIDAN FISHMAN B’NAI BRITH CANADA’S LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Police are investigating it as a possible hate crime.
“It is believed that speaking with the victim, that it is related to her religion,” Const. George Tudos said.
“There has been a couple recent incidents within our region. At this point, it’s mixed, whether it’s against someone’s religious background or sexual orientation or colour of skin. Our message is that this is not tolerated within the Durham Region.”
Amira Elghawaby, a spokesperson for the National Council of Canadian Muslims, said hate crimes against Muslims across the country show no sign of slowing down.
“Our concern is always quite high. Whenever there is, for instance, a terrorist attack done in the name of Islam, we will notice a spike in what’s being reported,” Elghawaby said. “I don’t want to say that it’s the new normal, but it pretty much is the new normal.”
There’s been an uptick in hate crimes, or at least those that have been reported, over the last eight to 10 months, according to Barbara Perry, a professor in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
“It’s in the air, the apparent freedom now to express your sentiments, whether it’s verbally or whether it’s the form of this sort of graffiti and property damage,” said Perry, who has written extensively on hate crimes.
She said some incidents are a direct result of one’s ideology, while others are perpetrated by “thrill-seeking” teenagers. A third motivator is often the notion of “defending neighbourhoods.”
“We refer to it as a ‘message crime,’ ” Perry said.
“It is meant to send that same narrative to all members of the community, not just the individual who is targeted, to say that ‘you people need to move out of our community, you’re not valued.’ ”
Perry said U.S. President Donald Trump is partly to blame for such views becoming more mainstream in Canada.
“Obviously, Trump has been the latest lightning rod for that and has really enabled the rhetoric and the sentiment and the violence to flourish,” she said. “But he’s not solely to blame. We have our own history here of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism and homophobia across the board.”
Last week, Durham police arrested 57-year-old William Carnahan, responsible for assaulting a 22-yearold Muslim man in Whitby on Aug. 12.
The victim had been in a washroom when he was approached by Carnahan, who made several “hate-related threats” before punching him and fleeing on a bicycle.
Elghawaby’s organization keeps a running tally of anti-Muslim incidents across Canada. There have already been 57 in 2017, compared to 64 at the end of last year and 59 in 2015.
“We’re likely going to outpace last year in terms of what’s being reported to NCCM,” she said. “It only represents a very small sliver of what’s going on as two-thirds of hate crimes are not reported, according to Statistics Canada.”
A Statistics Canada report in June showed hate crimes targeting Muslims rose by 60 per cent in 2015. Jews remained the most targeted religious group with 178 incidents that year.
B’nai Brith’s annual audit of antiSemitic incidents showed a recordbreaking year in 2016 for anti-Semitism in Canada, with more than1,700 incidents, a 26-per-cent increase over 2015. “Even though it was recordbreaking as a single year, it’s part of an elevated trend,” Fishman said.
“What we’re seeing so far in 2017, both in regard to incidents generally and also specifically with regard to vandalism, unfortunately there’s no breaking of that trend.”
Fishman said it’s particularly concerning following white nationalist protests last week in Charlottesville, Va., which prominently featured anti-Semitic chants and signage.
“There’s a concern that the individuals who share that ideology in Canada, even though they’re thankfully not as numerous or as influential here, will be emboldened by what has taken place in the United States,” he said.