'Troubling trend:' Hate crimes in Ottawa up 44 per cent
The number of hate crimes reported to Ottawa police last year was up 44 per cent from the previous year, new statistics show.
The Ottawa police hate crime unit received 340 reports of hate-motivated incidents in 2021, deeming 260 of them to be criminal. That’s up from 181 cases reported in 2020 and more than double the 116 reported in 2019.
“This is a troubling trend considering not all hate-motivated incidents are reported to police,” Sgt. Ali Toghrol of the hate crime unit said in a news release. “Hate crimes create fear and mistrust which can deeply impact our community.”
Police charged 26 people with 92 counts of various offences in hate-motivated incidents. Police said the most serious violations were mischief to property, assault, uttering threats, mischief hate and assault with a weapon.
The groups most victimized were Jewish, Black, LGBTQ+, East and Southeast Asian, Arab and West Asian, and Muslim, police said.
Police report hate crime statistics twice a year. In late June, they reported a 33 per cent increase so far in 2021, meaning the rate of hate crimes reported increased in the second half of the year.
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