Hate Crimes in Canada: by the Numbers

For some pretty obvious reasons, hate crimes are a hot topic. High profile incidents seem to inspire politicians at all levels to issue solemn and earnest responses. Policy announcements often follow close behind. Actual improvements are often a lot harder to identify. I may not be able to solve the problem, but I can contribute some clear and reliable data so we can at least know what it is we’re arguing about.

We’ll begin with the latest Canada-wide data I could find. The Rate/100k column is important as it shows us how vulnerable each victim group is in the context of their total population. For technical reasons, this table uses population figures from the 2021 census and 2023 police-reported hate crime numbers.

While all hate crimes are inexcusable no matter who they’re targeting, it’s abundantly clear that Jews are far more likely to face uncomfortable and dangerous interactions than any other group. And it’s not even close.

Toronto Police Services provide comprehensive data covering hate crime occurrences between 2018 and 2023. Breaking down the 1,350 incidents in that database by target, we can see that, proportionally, Toronto’s experience roughly echos that of Canada as a whole:

Toronto Police Services data provides fascinating location details for each reported incident. As you can see from the next table, schools (both K-12 and post-secondary) are, relatively speaking, hotbeds of hatred. This won’t be a surprise to anyone aware of recent campus-based pro-Hamas demonstrations and encampments. But the scale, scope, and pervasiveness of the problem suggests that the institutions themselves must bear some of the blame for the climate they and their faculties seem to tolerate.

It’s interesting that “religious places of worship” were the scene for relatively few events in Toronto. Perhaps that’s because synagogues tend to receive protection from police and private security, although there have been many synagogue attacks so far in 2024 which aren’t covered by this data. The disturbing wave of church burnings across the western provinces obviously wouldn’t show up in Toronto police data.

This final chart shows us the absolute numbers of reports over the years covered by the Toronto Police Services data. Things are clearly moving the wrong way. I don’t think this is a result of changes to the way hate crimes are reported which has been fairly consistent through the period we’re looking at.

For context, those overall numbers do translate to just 12.9 incidents per 100,000 Toronto residents in 2023. So it’s not like every third trip to the gas station ends badly.

Still, the trends are disturbing and beg for at least a tentative explanation. While keeping in mind that correlation does not prove causation, it’s hard to ignore the fact that hate crime rates have exploded in parallel with historically unprecedented immigration policies. Thoughtful people might wonder whether there’s a connection between government policy and street-level experiences.

I believe that a lot of the current unrest in the UK and elsewhere is a product of harsh official restraints on public conversation. You don’t change minds by silencing voices. There are far too many things about society that impact everyone but can be discussed by no one. As I’ve seen it described:

If you prevent reasonable people from talking about an important issue, unreasonable people will fill the vacuum.

Perhaps having the data that represents this particular social problem can help us productively discuss it and move us just a bit closer to a solution.