City of Hamilton launches survey for anti-racism resource centre

The city of Hamilton is running an online survey to better understand its residents' experiences of racism. 

It will use feedback to create programming for the Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Centre (HARRC), which was created to track racism complaints, support victims, and inform city council.

The centre was launched in April 2018 as a pilot project between the city, McMaster University, and the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion. 

But in February 2019, the city put the centre on hold to investigate how it could better serve residents. During the 10 months that it was open, the centre only served 73 people. Officials stressed that this number differs from the amount of people who need the service.

Last month, a Statistics Canada report ranked Hamilton as having the highest rate of police-reported hate crimes in Canada. In 2018, the rate of hate crimes reported to police out of 100,000 people in Hamilton was 17.1 — over three times the national average of 4.9. 

A city committee against racism brought forward the idea for the centre in the early 2000s, but more than a decade of requests from council delayed its launch. Now, the city says the pause will be for up to one year.

The survey is part of the city's plan to collect information for HARRC, which also includes public consultations, and information tables at festivals, fairs, and events.  

The survey will be available online until Sept. 15.

The city says people who need help while the centre is on hold can contact its diversity and inclusion office.