Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Hate Crimes Report and Update on Reitmeier and Sturrup

Yesterday a new Stats Canada report came out describing an increase in hate crimes being reported in Canada:

Police-reported hate crimes rise in Canada: StatsCan

By Beatrice Fantoni, Postmedia News June 7, 2011

OTTAWA — Figures released Tuesday by Statistics Canada suggest the number of hate crimes reported to police is on the rise.

Instances of hate crimes increased by 42 per cent between 2008 and 2009, bringing the total to 1,473.

While hate crimes remain primarily motivated by race (and black Canadians remain the most-targeted by hate crime), the data also showed the number of reported hate crimes perpetrated against Arabs and West Asians doubled (to 75 from 37). There was also a 71 per cent increase in hate crimes committed against Jewish people.

Statistics Canada analyst Mia Dauvergne says two factors might have influenced the result: While there may have been a real increase in hate crimes, it is also possible that more crimes are being reported as police forces across Canada set up special hate-crimes units.

Len Rudner, the Ontario regional president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said while the statistics could be a result of more reporting, "We have to acknowledge the fact that a lot of this is the result of an increase in criminal acts."

Rudner said he has noticed a pattern where flare-ups in the Middle East are linked to flare-ups in hate crimes against Jews. Late-2008 was one such time, he said, and so it could have influenced the 2009 statistics.

Rudner also acknowledged that reporting crimes varies between communities, since not all cultural or religious communities enjoy equal access to police and justice services. While the Jewish community enjoys a good relationship with police, other groups are not necessarily as well-represented on the hate-crimes radar, he said.

It is this lack of representation that partly explains the jump in reported hate crimes against Arabs and West Asians, said Khaled Mouammar, president of the Canadian Arab Federation. In addition, the Canadian government is fostering an environment of hostility toward Arabs and Muslims in Canada, he said.

"We are a very vulnerable community," Mouammar said. "We don't have resources, we don't have the numbers," he said. "Many people are silenced and try to avoid talking about issues to avoid being targeted."

Sohail Raza, president of the Muslim Canadian Congress, said the opposite was true.

"It's a two-way street," Raza said. "We have to get over the victim mentality. . . . Only then will (there) be less hate crimes," he said.

bfantoni@postmedia.com

4 comments:

  1. So now Rob and Tyler are being charged by the organized crime unit. Finally they recognize WEB as a gang. Vindicates what ARA and ARC said from the beginning.

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  2. Swastika graffitti is a poor, poor angle, as far as evindence goes. Even Paul Fromm could make them walk with stuff like that.

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  3. It's sad, they kill a white man, someone who shares the same blood they claim their trying to protect and a bunch of snakes on stormfront try and make excuses. There is no excuse for killing one of your own, no matter where they sit on the fence.

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  4. This isn't a related topic. But today I seen a bald guy in downtown Edmonton. He was wearing that flight jacket thing they all wear, and I seen the display picture for his phone and it was a swastika. He got off the bus on the south end of Edmonton.

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