By Mata Press Service

Canada, which prides itself as a diverse and welcoming country for immigrants and refugees, has seen a surge in hate crimes targeting religion, sexual orientation, and race since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report from Statistics Canada showed.

In 2021, hate-motivated crimes targeting religion jumped 67 percent, those targeting sexual orientation climbed 64 percent and those targeting race or ethnicity rose 6 percent, said the national number-crunching agency.

That has prompted minority groups to urge the government to pass an anti-racism law.

"We simply cannot afford further delay in actions to stop anti-Asian hate and racism," Amy Go, the president of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice, told Reuters.

The council has asked the federal government to pass an Anti-Racism Act to collect specific information about the culprits, where the crime takes place and the circumstances under which it occurs to hold those responsible accountable. Go said the government is reviewing the request.

Migration is a crucial growth engine for the Canadian economy, with immigrant workers accounting for 84 percent of total labour force growth in the 2010s, according to Statistics Canada.

Canada welcomed a record 401,000 new permanent residents in 2021, and Ottawa has set an ambitious target of 432,000 newcomers this year.

Mohammed Hashim, Executive Director of Canadian Race Relations Foundation, has recommended the federal government invest C$15 million to help hate crime victims.

"This is unacceptable because hate can forever damage peoples' ability to participate in society," Hashim said.

Muslims in Canada have been targeted by major hate attacks in recent years, including a mass shooting that claimed six worshippers at a mosque in Quebec City in 2017. Last year, an assailant ran over a Muslim family with his truck in London, Ontario, killing four people in what police described as an Islamophobic attack.

More Muslims have been killed in targeted hate attacks in Canada than any other G-7 country between 2017-2021 because of Islamophobia, said the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM).

The number of incidents targeting Catholics has also increased more than 260% between 2020 and 2021, according to the latest crime figures.

“Undoubtedly, this increase can be attributed to attacks on Catholic churches in Canada in 2021 including the deliberate burning down of churches,” the Toronto-based Catholic Civil Rights League said.

“Mainstream media has reported the overall 27 percent increase, but the most staggering of all increases, the 260% rise in anti-Catholic hate crimes, has been largely ignored.”

“Our politicians must speak out against this alarming trend and law enforcement officials must vigorously investigate all incidents of hate crimes against Catholics and charge those responsible,” the organization said.

Statistics Canada said that the Jewish community, comprising about 1% of the population, were victims of 14% of reported hate crimes. Jews saw a 47% rise in reported hate crimes compared to 2020.

“We are deeply concerned that incidents of hate crimes rose yet again in Canada in 2021,” said Shimon Koffler Fogel, head of the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs. “This disturbing trend clearly proves the need for more proactive measures to stop the rising hate targeting diverse Canadians based on their identity.”

– with Agencies

Crime in Canada

• There were over 2 million police-reported Criminal Code incidents (excluding traffic) in 2021, about 25,500 more incidents than in 2020. At 5,375 incidents per 100,000 population, the police-reported crime rate—which measures the volume of crime—increased by 1% in 2021, following a 9% decrease in 2020. In 2021, the violent crime rate increased by 5%, while the property crime rate decreased by 1%. Following a large decrease in 2020, the property crime rate was the lowest it has been dating back to 1965.

• Police-reported crime in Canada, as measured by the Crime Severity Index (CSI), remained stable, changing from 73.9 in 2020 to 73.7 in 2021. This follows a 7% drop in the CSI in 2020, the first after 5 years of increases. The stability in the overall CSI was the result of increases in violent crime and continued decreases in non-violent crime. The CSI measures the volume and severity of police-reported crime in Canada, and it has a base index value of 100 for 2006.

• The Violent CSI rose 5% in 2021, and was higher than in 2019, prior to the pandemic. The increase was primarily driven by a relatively large rise in the rate of level 1 sexual assault (+18%). Various other violent crimes also increased in volume in 2021, however they had a more marginal impact on the CSI. The rise in level 1 sexual assault accounted for 40% of the increase in the Violent CSI. Overall, there were 34,242 police-reported sexual assaults (level 1, 2 and 3), representing 90 incidents per 100,000 population in 2021.

• The Non-violent CSI—which includes, for example, property offences and drug offences—declined 3%, after a 9% drop in 2020. Much of this decline was due to lower rates of breaking and entering (-10%) and theft of $5,000 or under (-4%).

• Nationally, there were 788 homicides, 29 more than the previous year. The national homicide rate increased 3% from 2.00 homicides per 100,000 population in 2020, to 2.06 homicides per 100,000 population in 2021.

• In 2021, four in ten (41%) homicides were firearm related. The firearm was recovered in 29% of firearm-related homicides. Of the 297 firearm-related homicides that occurred in 2021, almost half (46%) were considered by police to be gang-related.

• In 2021, there were 5,996 opioid-related offences in Canada, representing a rate of 16 per 100,000 population, a 13% increase compared with 2020. Police-reported rates of heroin (-32%), ecstasy (-25%), methamphetamine (-20%) and cocaine-related drug offences (-15%) all decreased. Additionally, rates of impaired driving dropped 9% compared with 2020.