Hate crimes in Canada rising

– The number of hate crimes reported to police in Canada rose 47% last year from 2016, targeting mostly Muslim, Jewish or black people, the government statistical agency said on Thursday.

There were 2 073 hate crimes, 664 more than in 2016, with the uptick in vandalism, incitement, assaults and threats, said Statistics Canada.

The biggest increase was in property crimes while violent hate crimes grew 25%. These were motivated by race hatred (878 crimes, up 32%), religion (842 crimes, up 83%), or sexual orientation (204 crimes, up 16%). Hate crimes against Muslims rose 151% to 349, 63% to 360 against Jews and against blacks 50% to 321. –