With reports increasing, Ottawa urged to invest $44 million to support victims
On the same day that Statistics Canada released national figures showing an increase in reported hate-motivated crimes, the Canadian Race Relations Foundation released an interim report urging the federal government to invest $44 million to help address the problem.
That support, says CRRF executive director Mohammed Hashim, would create a national fund for community organizations to help victims of hate.
“It’s not a lot of money,” he says, “but it would propel the system in a direction where we start looking at dealing with hate, not just at how much money hate crimes units are going to get for policing, but to get in on the ground level, hearing from community organizations and communities about how they’re experiencing hate and what support they need and starting to do the work.
“We need to be able to invest in community organizations to be able to create culturally sensitive, geographically appropriate services,” he adds. “We should start off with that and see how we can grow it.
For ultimately, he says, “we’re not going to be judged by our condemnations or how many thoughts and prayers we provide, but by how we actually help people heal and find justice.
“I’m sick and tired of thoughts and prayers.”
Created as a Crown corporation in 1996, it’s the CRRF’s mandate to facilitate the development, sharing and application of knowledge and expertise to help eliminate racial discrimination in Canada.
Statistics Canada reported a 27 per cent increase in reported hate crimes in 2021, jumping from 2,646 in 2020 to 3,360. The 2020 figure, meanwhile, represented a 36 per cent rise over 2019’s total.
Of the 1,723 reported hate crimes motivated by races or ethnicity, 642, or more than one-third, targeted members of Black communities, an increase of six per cent over 2020 figures.
Arab or West Asian communities saw a 46 per cent rise in reported hate crimes, jumping from 126 to 184 last year.
Nearly 900 hate crimes were motivated by religion, with more than half directed at Jews. Further, 423 hatecrime reports last year were motivated by sexual orientation, a jump of 64 per cent from 2020.
The Ottawa Police Service recently released its latest semi-annual hate-crime figures, noting a six per cent increase in hate-crime reports in the first six months of 2022. OPS has charged 21 people with 74 counts of various hate- and bias-motivated criminal offences this year.
But with an estimated 80 per cent of hate crimes unreported, Hashim says that releases like StatCan’s paint an incomplete picture.
That’s why the CRRF chose to simultaneously release its interim report, titled Reimagining a path to support all Canadians: A review of services for victims of hate in Canada.
The report is based on a study it conducted through PricewaterhouseCoopers, looking at the state of support services in Canada and elsewhere.
Focusing on such aspects as service access and delivery, and the actual services offered, it recommends ways to address gaps in the system.
The CRRF hopes the government will incorporate its recommendations into the upcoming National Action Plan on Combatting Hate, which was announced in March.
The report also identifies factors that contribute to a rise in hate crimes, including the COVID-19 pandemic, which, isolating people from their customary connections, contributed to a 19 per cent increase in online engagement with far-right content during lockdowns.
According to Hashim, there are more than 75 instantmessaging platforms, many spewing hate. So even if legislation could effectively tackle such hate-mongering and close an offensive site, it would only take about 20 seconds for users to find another.
“We’re drinking from a firehose when it comes to online hate,” he says.
He believes that toxicity creates further problems.