The League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada releases a report each year titled “Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents” on the patterns of prejudice in Canada.
It most recent report for the year 2010 recorded 1,306 incidents, representing a 3.3% increase over the 2009 data, and a more than four-fold increase over the past ten years.
“Incidents were reported across the country in synagogues, schools, playgrounds, on campus, at street rallies, sporting events, workplaces, even reaching people’s own homes,” said Frank Dimant, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada. “This kind of hatred is infectious and insidious. It destroys the very fabric of Canada’s multicultural society, and those that would deny its gravity are part of the problem, not the solution.
“Anti-Semitic canards continue to gain traction with new technologies giving a modern twist to age-old anti-Jewish messaging. Cyber-bullying - in this case anti-Semitic - is just one of the newest threats to society.
“Society appears to be getting desensitized to anti-Jewish racism and, in response, we note an increasing tendency in our community to remain silent when targeted. This is the new challenge we have to overcome.
The report is compiled through the submission of incident reports. The wording of the report is:
If you or someone you know has been a victim of an antisemitic incident, kindly fill out this form to have your matter reviewed by our human rights coordinator. Please note that your identity will remain confidential.
A second report came out from Statistics Canada on police-reported hate crimes for the year 2009. Police-reported hate crime data have been collected on an annual basis since 2006 and cover 87 per cent of the population of Canada. There is a special category for hate crimes against the Jewish faith.
The report shows that Canadian police services reported 1,473 hate crimes in 2009, up by 437 incidents, or 42%, from the previous year. This followed a 35% increase in 2008. Over half (54%) of police-reported hate crimes in 2009 were motivated by race or ethnicity, 29% by religion and 13% by sexual orientation.
Hate crimes against the Jewish faith increase substantially
As in previous years, 7 in 10 religiously-motivated hate crimes were committed against the Jewish faith in 2009. Police reported 283 such hate crimes in 2009, up 71% from 2008. Hate crimes against the Muslim faith (Islam) increased from 26 incidents in 2008 to 36 in 2009. Police reported 33 hate crimes against Catholics, 3 more than in 2008.
More than half (54 per cent) of police-reported hate crimes involved mischief offences, such as graffiti or vandalism. "Rates of hate crime tended to be highest among youth and young adults for both victims and accused," Statistics Canada said.
Four cities accounted for most of the increase in police-reported hate crimes: Ottawa, where the number of incidents increased by 83, Toronto (79), Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo (62), and Montreal (61). The census area of Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont., reported the highest per capita rate of police-reported hate crimes, at just under 18 incidents for every 100,000 population.
Police-reported hate crimes refer to criminal incidents that, upon investigation by police, are determined to have been motivated by hate towards an identifiable group. The incident may target race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, language, sex, age, mental or physical disability, or other factors such as profession or political beliefs.
The number of hate crimes presented in this release likely undercounts the true extent of hate crime in Canada, as not all crimes are reported to police. Self-reported victimization data from Canadians suggests that about one-third (34%) of incidents perceived by respondents to have been motivated by hate were subsequently reported to police.
Further Reading:
Anti-Semitism in Canada reached record high in 2009
Canada: Nearly Two-Thirds of Religiously Categorized Crimes Target Jews
