Islamophobic, anti-Palestinian hate crimes up 1,600% year-over-year: police
CBC
The number of Islamophobic or anti-Palestinian hate crimes reported from Oct. 7 to Nov. 23 represents a 1,600 per cent increase compared to that timeframe in 2022, Toronto's police chief said during a board meeting on Thursday.
There was one occurrence of an Islamophobic or anti-Palestinian hate crime between those dates in 2022, Chief Myron Demkiw said, compared to 17 occurrences this year.
For reports of antisemitic hate crimes, there has been a 192 per cent increase from Oct. 7 to Nov. 23 compared to the same time last year, Demkiw said, although he did not provide the number of concurrences.
He did say, however, that antisemitism makes up 40 per cent of all hate crimes reported so far in 2023, he said — 129 of 323 total.
"These alarming trends in our city, our city which prides itself in our diversity, are the likes of which we have never seen before," Demkiw said. "To combat these deeply concerning issues, we have committed a significant number of resources to address these overall increases."
He says the force's hate crime unit has been expanded from a team of six to 32. And that since Oct. 7, the unit has made 22 arrests and laid 58 charges.
Demkiw last provided an update on Toronto's hate crime statistics on Oct. 19, about two weeks after the Israel-Hamas war began. At that time, he said hate crime reports were up by 132 per cent.
His update follows a weekend that saw a Toronto man arrested in connection with multiple hate-motivated assaults, including a Saturday morning attack on worshippers outside a mosque. On Friday, a Jewish school closed early because of a bomb threat.
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.