Study: Hate-motivated Crimes in 2006

Hate-motivated incidents account for a relatively small proportion of both police-reported and self-reported crime. In both cases, race/ethnicity is the most common motivation for these crimes. In 2006, police services covering 87% of Canada's population reported 892 hate-motivated crimes, of which 6 in 10 were motivated by race/ethnicity. Another one-quarter of hate crimes were motivated by religion and 1 in 10 by sexual orientation. Hate crimes accounted for less than 1% of all criminal incidents reported by police.

The study, "Hate crime in Canada," published by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, showed that half of all hate-motivated crimes reported by police were property-related offences, usually mischief, while one-third were violent offences such as assault. Another measure of hate-motivated crime comes from the General Social Survey (GSS), which asks Canadians about their personal experiences of victimization and includes incidents not reported to police. The most recent GSS data for 2004 showed that 3% of all self-reported incidents were believed to be motivated by hate. The GSS data also showed that race/ethnicity was the most common motivation for these crimes.

Research has shown that hate-motivated crimes can have effects on victims beyond those associated with non-hate crimes. Hate crimes often target a person's core sense of identity and can result in more severe psychological consequences and longer recovery periods. According to the GSS, in 4 out of 10 hate crime incidents, victims indicated that they found it difficult or impossible to carry out their daily activities compared with 23% of incidents involving victims of non-hate crimes. Violent hate crime incidents were also more likely to result in victims feeling fearful.

Blacks most common racial group targeted by a hate crime

Among the 502 incidents motivated by race/ethnicity in 2006, half were targeted at Blacks, 13% at South Asians and 12% at Arabs or West Asians. Among the 220 hate crimes reported by police to be motivated by religion, offences against the Jewish faith were the most common, accounting for almost two-thirds (63%) of religion-based incidents. Another 21% were against Muslims (Islam) and 6% against Catholics.

More than half of all hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation are violent

The vast majority of the 80 incidents motivated by sexual orientation were committed against homosexuals. More than one-half (56%) of those incidents driven by hatred towards a particular sexual orientation were violent, higher than the proportion of incidents motivated by race/ethnicity (38%) or religion (26%).

Hate crime rates higher among youth

Young people aged 12 to 17 were more likely than older age groups to be accused of a hate crime according to police-reported data. The rate of accused persons peaked among 12 to 17 year olds and gradually declined with age. The 120 youth accused in 2006 accounted for more than one-third (38%) of all persons accused of committing a hate crime. This was double the proportion of youth accused of committing non-hate crimes (18%). Police-reported data show that, for youth and adults combined, males were two and a half times more likely than females to be victims of violent hate-motivated incidents.

Highest rates of hate crime in Calgary and Kingston

Provincial comparisons of hate crime are limited to Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia, where virtually 100% of all police services and detachments participated in the hate crime study. Police-reported hate crimes in these three provinces accounted for roughly 80% of the total number of hate crimes. The rate in Ontario was highest at 4.1 incidents per 100,000 population, followed by British Columbia (2.5) and Quebec (1.4). In 2006, five census metropolitan areas had police-reported rates of hate-motivated crime that were well above the national average of 3.1 per 100,000 population. Calgary led with a rate of 9.1 incidents for every 100,000 population, followed by Kingston (8.5), Ottawa (6.6), London (5.9) and Toronto (5.5).

Differences in rates among cities could be partly a result of local police policies and practices. For instance, the existence of specialized hate crime units and training programs for officers in some police services may lead to increased reporting of hate-motivated crimes in some cities. Incidents motivated by race/ethnicity were the most common type of hate crimes in the nine largest metropolitan areas, other than in Ottawa, where religion-based hate crimes occurred most often.

You can find a summary and link to the full content of the study on Statistics Canada website: http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/080609/d080609a.htm