Hate Crimes Rising Across Canada

While the numbers might be climbing, it could be because more people are now reporting hate crimes.

Hate crimes hit a five-year high in Canada in 2009, with slightly more than four recorded each day across the country, according to new data from Statistics Canada. Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and the Kitchener-Waterloo region faced the highest rates of hate crimes that year, with attacks that targeted Jewish people and institutions rising 71 per cent between 2008 and 2009. That rise could be attributed to fallout from Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip in early 2009. Two out of every five hate crimes is a violent offence, but criminologists suggest the rise could be linked to more people becoming aware of what constitutes a hate crime, and subsequently going to the police.