Hate crimes against the Jewish population rose slightly in 2020

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On March 17, 2022 the Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics published its annual report titled “Police-reported hate crime in Canada” in 2020. Here are excerpts from the report:

Hate crimes against the Jewish population rose slightly in 2020, from 306 to 321 incidents (+5%).

Hate crimes targeting the Black and Jewish populations remained the most common types of hate crimes reported by police, representing 26% and 13% of all hate crimes, respectively…

The number of police-reported hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity almost doubled (+80%) compared with the previous year, accounting for the vast majority of the national increase. Much of the rise in hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity was the result of more crimes targeting the Black population (+318 incidents, +92%), the East or Southeast Asian population (+202 incidents, +301%), the Indigenous population (+44 incidents, +152%) and the South Asian populationNote (+38, incidents, +47%). There were fewer police-reported hate crimes targeting religion (-98 incidents, -16%), the result of fewer incidents targeting the Muslim population (-100 incidents, -55%),Note while incidents targeting the Jewish population rose slightly (+15 incidents, +5%). Overall, hate crimes targeting the Black population accounted for 26% of hate crimes in 2020, while those targeting the Jewish and East or Southeast Asian populations accounted for 13% and 11%, respectively…

Among reported hate crimes targeting a religion in 2020, the Jewish and Muslim populations continue to be the most frequent targets, accounting for 62% and 16% of crimes against a religion, respectively…

there were 15 more incidents targeting the Jewish population in 2020 compared with 2019, for a total of 321. Among the provinces and territories, notable changes occurred in Ontario (+15 incidents), Quebec (+10 incidents) and Manitoba (-13 incidents). While police-reported metrics indicate a decrease in hate crimes targeting religion, the 2019 General Social Survey on Victimization has shown that people affiliated with a non-Christian religionNote are significantly more likely to report experiencing discrimination on the basis of their religion in the five years preceding the survey than ChristiansNote and those not affiliated with any religion (13.5% compared to 2.6% and 0.7%, respectively).

As with many groups, throughout the pandemic there have been reports of discrimination targeting the Jewish and Muslim populations as a result of disinformation and conspiracy theories related to the pandemic, often tied to broader anti-Jewish or anti-Muslim theories or beliefs (United Nations 2020; Moonshot 2020a). The Canadian Anti-Racism Secretariat, established under Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, organized two national summits in 2021: the National Summit on Islamophobia and the National Summit on Antisemitism (Canadian Heritage 2021a; Canadian Heritage 2021b). Both of these summits were intended to build awareness around prejudice and strategies to combat discrimination of religions or religiosity…

During the same period, the vast majority (85%) of hate crimes targeting the Jewish population were non-violent. Among these non-violent crimes, general mischief accounted for the largest proportion (80%), as well as hate-motivated mischief relating to property primarily used for religious worship or by an identifiable group (9%). The most common violent offence against this population was uttering threats (40% of violent offences and 6% of all offences targeting the Jewish population)…

Tthere was evidence of an increase in Twitter discourse targeting China and Chinese people as well as anti-Jewish and conspiracy theory content…

Violent hate crimes targeting religion were the most likely to occur in religious institutions (12% occurred in religious institutions) than other types of violent hate crime, while incidents targeting the Muslim population (28%) were more likely to occur in an open area compared to those targeting the Jewish population (19%)…

Of the 575 hate crimes that were also recorded by police as cybercrimes between 2016 and 2020,Note these most commonly targeted the Muslim population (16%), the Black population (15%), a sexual orientation (13%), and the Jewish population (13%)…

Unlike police-reported crime in general, the majority (64%) of hate crime victims were victimized by a stranger. The East and Southeast Asian population (83%) was most likely to be victimized by a stranger, followed by the South Asian population (79%) and the Muslim population (78%) (Table 7). Compared to other types of hate crime victims, the prevalence of victimization by an acquaintance was highest among victims targeted because of their perceived sexual orientation (39%) and victims of hate crimes targeting the Indigenous (37%), Jewish (37%) and Black populations (36%). Overall, very few (4%) hate crime victims were victimized by a family member or intimate partner, compared to an acquaintance (32%) or a stranger (64%)…

Nationally, police-reported hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity nearly doubled, specifically against the Black, East or Southeast Asian, Indigenous and South Asian populations. For each of these groups, the number of hate crimes was the highest since comparable data have been available. Conversely, police reported a decrease in hate crimes targeting religion. This was largely due to fewer crimes targeting the Muslim population, while there was a slight uptick in crimes targeting the Jewish population. Overall, crimes targeting the Black and Jewish populations were the most prevalent types of police-reported hate crime in Canada, continuing the trend from previous years…

This multi-year analysis provides other insights into the variations in hate crimes across various groups. For instance, victims of violent hate crimes targeting a sexual orientation and the Indigenous population tend to be the youngest among hate crime victims and sustain the highest rate of injury. Furthermore, compared to other hate crime victims, victims of crimes targeting the East or Southeast Asian, South Asian and Muslim populations were most likely to be victimized by strangers. In contrast, the rate of victimization by someone known to the victim was highest among victims of hate crimes targeting a sexual orientation and the Indigenous, Jewish and Black populations.