Arabs and Muslims in Canada were the targets of increased hate crime from 2014 to 2019.
According to Statistics Canada, police-reported hate crime in the country has seen an overall increase of 50 percent between 2014 and 2019, with Black people in Canada reporting the highest numbers of incidents during those years. However, reported hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims have dramatically increased during that five-year period, with Arabs experiencing the highest increase at 86 percent.
These statistics reveal a sobering truth about the continued prevalence of racism in Canadian society. According to a 2019 IPSOS survey, more than a quarter of Canadians believed it had become "more acceptable" to be prejudiced against Arabs and Muslims at the time the survey was conducted, with four in 10 Canadians believing immigrants were stealing jobs from white Canadians and three in 10 believing Muslims followed Sharia law instead of local law.
The five-year time period also saw its fair share of controversies involving systemic racism, with Muslims being a frequent target. During the 2015 federal election, former prime minister and Conservative leader Stephen Harper promised to prohibit public servants from wearing the niqab if re-elected. While this promise arguably ended up costing Harper the election, it was actually based on Bill 62, provincial legislation in Quebec with the same goal that ultimately passed in 2017.
2016 would later see the election of Donald Trump as president in the United States. The racist, xenophobic rhetoric frequently used by Trump during rallies, combined with policies such as the infamous Muslim ban, would serve to embolden many who shared anti-Muslim sentiments in both Canada and the US. One such individual was Alexandre Bissonnette, who, on January 29, 2017, shot and killed six Muslims at a Quebec City mosque.
The continuing trend of Blacks being the most frequent victims of reported hate crime is consistent with more recent findings on the nature of anti-Black racism in Canada. According to a recent survey conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, Black residents in Toronto are 20 times more likely to be shot dead by a police officer, a finding especially pertinent in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis. In the workplace, Black workers are four times as likely as white workers to report racial discrimination in major decisions, while black university graduates earn only 80 cents for every dollar earned by white graduates - despite having the same credentials. And in healthcare, Black women in Ontario are three times less likely to have a family doctor than white women. When you combine these statistics with the numbers on reported hate crimes against black people from 2014 to 2019, it paints a very sobering picture of the quality of life for Black people in Canada.
In Canada, however, hate crimes often go underreported - and the chances of prosecuting them as a hate crime are even lower. According to a report by CBC News, the Criminal Code does in fact have provisions for hate crimes. However, these provisions are usually reserved for offences involving hate propaganda or promoting/advocating for genocide. As a result, most hate-motivated crimes in Canada are prosecuted as regular offences under the Criminal Code, with any biases or prejudices regarded as aggravating factors. This has resulted in hate crimes in Canada being underreported until recently, as well as inconsistent sentencing of such offences in court.
