In the 2018 federal budget, Public Safety Canada pledged an additional $5 million to the Security Infrastructure Program. A portion of that new funding will be allocated to religious community groups to improve security and accessibility as hate crime in Canada becomes a growing problem, according to an analysis of data recorded by Statistics Canada over the last nine years. The data, provided by individual municipal police services and the RCMP to Statistics Canada, shows a significant rise in hate crime directed toward Canada’s Muslim and Arab or West Asian communities. Meanwhile, hate crime directed toward Canadian Jewish communities remains high, signalling a possible rise in racist sentiments across the country.

The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics used the data provided by individual municipal police services to Statistics Canada to analyze the number of hate crimes occurring in each of Canada’s metropolitan areas. The analysis showed that the Greater Toronto Area and Montreal saw the highest amount of reported hate crime in Canada in 2016, followed by Ottawa – Gatineau and Hamilton. The cities with the lowest reported hate crime rates in Canada include St. John’s, Halifax and Saskatoon.

Data reported by individual municipal police services and the RCMP to Statistics Canada in 2016. Source: Statistics Canada – Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.