“Hate crimes targeting the Jewish population accounted for 19% of hate crimes in 2018”

, , Comments Off on “Hate crimes targeting the Jewish population accounted for 19% of hate crimes in 2018”

Images provided to B’nai Brith Canada of antisemitic graffiti sprayed on the walls of Woodbridge College High School in Vaughan, Ont. Photo: Bnai Brith Canada

On July 22, 2019 Statistics Canada published the “Police-reported crime statistics, 2018.”

Here are excerpts from the report dealing with hate crimes:

Hate-motivated crimes down after peaking in 2017, but still higher than in 2016

Following a 47% increase in 2017, the number of police-reported hate crimes in Canada was down 13% in 2018, from 2,073 incidents to 1,798. Even with this decline, the number of hate crimes remains higher (with the exception of 2017) than any other year since 2009, and aligns with the upward trend observed since 2014.

The year-over-year decrease was almost entirely a result of declines in Ontario. Nationally, the number of hate crimes targeting the Muslim population fell 50% after spiking in 2017 because of large increases in Ontario and Quebec. In 2018, there were also fewer police-reported hate crimes targeting Blacks (-12%) and fewer targeting sexual orientation (-15%). Hate crimes targeting the Jewish population accounted for 19% of hate crimes in 2018, down 4% from 2017. In 2018, non-violent hate crimes (-23%) declined more than violent hate crimes (-7%).

Police data on hate-motivated crimes include only those incidents that come to the attention of police services. These data also depend on police services’ level of expertise in identifying crimes motivated by hate.

For more information on hate crime, see data tables 35-10-0066-01, 35-10-0067-01 and 35-10-0191-01.