Gay men targets of violence as hate crimes jump

From the Canadian Press:

Ottawa — Police services are reporting a big jump in hate crimes, and they say gay men are being targeted more often and in the most violent incidents.

Statistics Canada says police logged 1,036 hate crimes in 2008, up 35 per cent from 2007.

Just over half (55 per cent) were motivated by race or ethnicity, 26 per cent by religion and 16 per cent by sexual orientation.

The agency says all three major categories of hate crime increased in 2008, but the largest increase was among crimes motivated by sexual orientation, which more than doubled from 2007 to 2008.

Hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation were also the most violent in nature: 75 per cent of them were violent compared with 38 per cent of racially-motivated incidents and 25 per cent of religiously motivated incidents.

Among violent incidents motivated by sexual orientation, 85 per cent of the victims were male.

StatsCan reports hate crimes motivated by religion increased 53 per cent, while those motivated by race or ethnicity were up 15.

Mischief offences such as vandalism to property accounted for 47 per cent of hate crimes, while other non-violent offences comprised 11 per cent. Violence was a factor in 42 per cent of hate crimes.

Among the hate crimes motivated by race or ethnicity, almost four in 10 were committed against blacks. Police reported 205 hate crimes against blacks in 2008, up 30 per cent over 2007, but still lower than the 2006 total of 238.

South Asians, which includes East Indians and Pakistanis, were the next most commonly targeted group, accounting for 12 per cent of hate-crime incidents motivated by race or ethnicity. Incidents targeting South Asians increased by 21 per cent in 2008.

As in previous years, about two-thirds of religiously-motivated hate crimes were committed against the Jewish faith. The agency reports 165 hate crimes targeting the Jewish faith in 2008, up 42 per cent.

Police reported 30 hate crimes against the Catholic faith, double the total in 2007. The 26 incidents against the Muslim faith represented a slight drop from 2007.

Vancouver and Hamilton reported the highest rates (6.3 hate crimes per 100,000 population) among Canada’s 10 largest census cities.

Police reported 143 hate crimes in Vancouver in 2008, nearly double the total from the previous year.

There were 271 hate crimes reported in Toronto, a rate of 5.4 hate crimes per 100,000 population. Montreal, where police reported 38 hate crimes in 2008, had the lowest rate, at one per 100,000.

The agency says the number of hate crimes reported by police in any given area may be influenced by the presence or absence of specialized hate-crime units or initiatives.