Hate crime reports in Canada surged during COVID-19 pandemic: StatCan
Global News
New data released by Statistics Canada on Tuesday showed that 3,360 hate crimes were reported by police last year, representing a 72 per cent jump over the last two years.
Hate crimes reported by police are on the rise in Canada amid the COVID-19 pandemic as lockdowns and other virus-related measures disrupted everyday life.
A new report released by Statistics Canada on Tuesday showed that 3,360 hate crimes were reported by police last year, representing a 27 per cent increase compared with 2020 and a 72 per cent jump over the last two years.
Higher numbers of hate-motivated crimes targeting religion, sexual orientation, and race or ethnicity accounted for the majority of the increase, StatCan reported.
“In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to have profound impacts on Canada’s economy, health-care system and society in general,” StatCan said.
“Policies enacted to contain the spread of the virus resulted in unprecedented disruptions in the social and economic lives of Canadians, changing how we interact, socialize, learn, work and consume.”
The incidence and severity of violent crime – as measured by the Crime Severity Index (CSI) – also rose last year with higher rates of Level 1 sexual assault, harassment, threatening behaviours, and homicide reported across the country. Level 1 sexual assault violates the integrity of the victim, according to StatCan.
Overall, police-reported crime in Canada didn’t change much last year and non-violent CSI continued to drop in 2021 because of lower rates of breaking and entering and theft of $5,000 or under.
The first year of the pandemic saw the highest number of police-reported hate crimes since Statistics Canada began tracking data in 2009.
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