Data on prosecuted and sentenced cases was submitted in the 2023 Hate Crime Reporting cycle, and thus was added to this table retrospectively in October 2024.
Data on prosecuted and sentenced cases covers the 2021/2022 fiscal year (1 April 2021 to 30 March 2022).
Number of prosecution figures reflect a “charge” in the Integrated Criminal Court Survey (ICCS). A charge refers to a formal accusation against an accused person or company involving a federal statute offence that has been processed by the courts and received a final decision. A charge is considered to be completed under any of the following conditions: the accused is acquitted or found guilty and sentenced (if applicable); the accused is found unfit to stand trial; the charge is stayed, withdrawn, dismissed, or discharged at preliminary hearing; the charge has been waived out of the province or territory.
Sentence figures reflect a “guilty” decision in the ICCS. A decision is a judgment made by the court. The decision categories are as follows: Guilty; Acquittal; Stay, Withdrawn, Dismissed; and Other decisions. Guilty findings include guilty of the charged offence, of an included offence, of an attempt of the charged offence, or of an attempt of an included offence. This category also includes guilty pleas, and cases where an absolute or conditional discharge has been imposed.
The data on prosecuted and sentenced case include offences that fall outside the OSCE’s hate crime definition, but could not be disaggregated and therefore excluded from the above number.
In 2022, a new offence of "wilful promotion of anti-Semitism" was introduced into the Criminal Code of Canada.
In 2022, a new Hate Crime Chiefs of Police National Roundtable Task Force was created. The Task Force aims to increase awareness of the scope, nature and impact of hate crimes in Canada at the community and interpersonal levels among the Canadian public and police. Activities of the Task Force include: developing publicly available information to promote a shared understanding of hate crimes; highlighting the ways in which hate crimes can be reported to police; updating police training related to hate crimes; improving engagement with victims and communities; exploring how hate crimes can be captured and reported more effectively; identifying measures to support the prosecution process; and exploring the creation of national standards. This will be achieved by working together to leverage the various experiences and knowledge of the members, as well as by drawing on work already undertaken by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, Canadian Race Relations Foundation and other partners and groups.
The Human Rights Commissioner for British Columbia launched an inquiry into hate incidents that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The inquiry aimed to understand the historical antecedents for hate and discrimination and respond to present and future issues related to hate during the pandemic. The inquiry was ongoing in 2022, and the report was published in March 2023.
This category includes hate crimes motivated by bias on the following grounds: Indigenous, Arab and West Asian (West Asian, Middle Eastern and North African), Black, White, East and Southeast Asian, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Japanese, Other East and Southeast Asian, South Asian, Indian, Pakistani, Other South Asian, Latin American, Roma or Sinti, Polynesian or Pacific Islander, Multiple Races or Ethnicities, Other race or ethnicity, Unknown race or ethnicity, and bias against language.
This category includes hate crimes targeting the Catholic religion. Recent updates allow for data relating to other religions, including: Catholic, Christian Orthodox, Mennonite or Amish, Seventh Day Adventist – Jehovah's Witness, and Other Christian religion.
This category captures hate crimes motivated by bias against members of the following religions: Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Traditional Indigenous Spirituality, other religion, and unknown religion.
Includes hate crimes motivated by bias against male, female and unknown sex or gender.
This category includes 491 hate crimes committed with motivation based on bias against sexual orientation (including homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual, lesbian, gay, LGBTQ2+, asexual, pansexual, other and unknown sexual orientation); and 23 hate crimes motivated by bias on the grounds of gender identity (including transgender man, transgender woman, transgender target not specified, gender diverse, and other sex or gender).
This category includes hate crimes motivated by bias on the grounds of disability (including mental, physical, mental and physical, other disability, and unknown disability).
ODIHR recognizes Canada's efforts to improve its hate crime recording and data collection methodology to enable the further disaggregation of data, as well as the regular submission of information on police records to ODIHR. However, based on the available information, it observes that Canada has not reported hate crime data recorded by prosecution and judiciary to ODIHR. In addition, ODIHR observes that Canada would benefit from ensuring that hate crimes are addressed in a comprehensive manner, including by introducing a co-ordination mechanism.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, OSCE participating States committed to collecting reliable data and statistics in sufficient detail on hate crimes and to reporting these periodically to ODIHR. Furthermore, in Ministerial Council Decisions 9/09 and 13/06, participating States committed to ensuring a comprehensive approach to hate crimes. To that end, the relevant authorities are required to collaborate and co-ordinate with civil society. ODIHR stands ready to support Canada in meeting the relevant commitments through the provision of its comprehensive resources and tailored assistance in the area of hate crime recording and data collection, as well as through further resources and assistance in developing comprehensive hate crime responses.
🛈 Please note that the total number of incidents may be lower than the sum of incidents presented in the breakdown chart above, as some incidents involve multiple bias motivations.
🛈 ODIHR no longer presents descriptions of property attacks in the incident tables below. Data on property attacks are presented in the breakdown charts above. One property attack may target multiple properties or involve multiple types of attack.