Hate incidents jump nearly 24% in Ottawa, police say
CBC News | Posted: July 7, 2023 2:15 PM | Last Updated: July 7, 2023
Most affected residents so far this year are Jewish, LGBTQ and Black
Hate-motivated incidents in Ottawa have jumped nearly 24 per cent in the first half of 2023 compared to the same time last year, according to police.
There were 221 such incidents reported to police between Jan. 1 and June 30 this year, compared to 179 by the same time in 2022, Ottawa police said in a media release issued Friday.
Among this year's cases, 158 have been deemed criminal and 63 have been deemed hate-motivated but not criminal. Charges have been laid against 23 people, including one charge of public incitement of hatred, police said.
So far in 2023, the most affected residents are Jewish (36 incidents), LGBTQ (32 incidents) and Black (30 incidents), followed by Chinese (eight incidents) and Muslim (seven incidents), police said.
The number of incidents against the LGBTQ community and Muslims doubled from the same period in 2022.
The alleged crimes include mischief to property, uttering threats, assaults, criminal stalking and harassment, and mischief to cultural property.
In all of 2021 there were 340 reports filed, and in 2022 a total of 377 reports were filed, police said.
"The statistics are sobering because we know that they only tell part of the story," police Chief Eric Stubbs is quoted as saying in Friday's news release.
"So often these types of incidents go unreported and we know that this data only provides a glimpse of what people are experiencing out in the community."