
Canada
Canada regularly reports hate crime data to ODIHR. Canada's hate crime laws are a combination of a substantive offence and a general penalty-enhancement provision. Police-reported hate crime data are collected by Statistics Canada, the national statistical agency. Hate crime statistics are regularly published. Canada conducts regular victimization surveys to measure unreported hate crime.
How hate crime data is collected
Police-reported hate crimes refer to criminal incidents that, upon investigation by police, are found to have been motivated by hatred toward an identifiable group, as defined in subparagraph 718.2(a)(i) of the Criminal Code of Canada. An incident may be against a person or property and may target race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, language, sex, age, or mental or physical disability, among other factors. In addition, there are four specific offences listed as hate propaganda offences or hate crimes in the Criminal Code of Canada: advocating genocide, public incitement of hatred, willful promotion of hatred and mischief motivated by hate in relation to religious property.
Police determine whether or not a crime was motivated by hatred and indicate the type of motivation based on information gathered during the investigation and common national guidelines for record classification. Depending on the level of evidence at the time of the incident, police can record it as either a "suspected" or "confirmed" hate-motivated crime. The hate crime is classified by the perception of the accused (even if this perception is inaccurate), not by the victim's characteristics. As more information is gathered, incidents are reviewed and verified and their status may be reclassified.
The collection of police-reported hate crime data occurs at the time the incident is reported. Police-reported hate crimes have been collected since 2004 through the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey. There are three databases for this survey - the incident file, the accused and the victim file. A detailed analytical article is also produced every year about the hate crime data.
In 2017 The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics at Statistics Canada (CCJS), working together with the Police Information Statistics Committee (POLIS) of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) amended the definition of founded incidents to include third party reporting. An incident is “founded” if, after police investigation it is determined that the reported offence did occur or was attempted (even if the charged/suspect chargeable is unknown), or if there is no credible evidence to confirm that the reported incident did not take place. This includes third party reports that fit these criteria. In 2019, the CCJS conducted a consultation with police, civil society and academics with the goal of reviewing the existing data collection categories regarding hate crime and identifying data gaps in order to ensure that the information collected is relevant.
Official Data
Hate crimes recorded by police
This data indicates the number of criminal incidents recorded by police in 2016. Hate crime incidents motivated by age, other factors, and unknown motivations were also recorded but are not presented here.
International reports
Racism and xenophobia
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In the report on its mission to Canada, the United Nations Human Rights Council's Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, observed that the prosecutors play a crucial role in requesting from judges that sentences be aggravated by racist motivation and therefore recommended improving the understanding of anti-Black racism among prosecutors and judges.
Racism and xenophobia, Bias against Muslims
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In its concluding observation on periodic reports of Canada, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) expressed concern that racist hate crimes remain under-reported and that the racist hate crime is not tracked consistently across Canada's ten provinces. CERD also expressed concern at the increase in hate crimes targeting Muslims. CERD recommended that Canada facilitate reporting by victims, ensure the effective investigation of racist hate crimes and prosecute and sanction perpetrators. It recommended that Canada should also systematically track hate crimes across the criminal justice system, train law enforcement and judges on how to recognize and register hate crimes and address the reasons for the increase in hate crime targeting Muslims.
Key observation
ODIHR observes that Canada has not reported to ODIHR the numbers of prosecuted hate crime cases and information on sentenced hate crime cases.