According to Statistics Canada, the Jewish community is the group most frequently targeted in religiously motivated hate crimes. While the Vancouver Police Department and the RCMP detachments in North Vancouver and Coquitlam provide resources for hate crime reporting, overall, incidents are underreported, and accurate data are therefore not collected.
We ask the B.C. Government to:
Mandate the public reporting of hate incidents by every police force across the province. Mandatory recording and public reporting of hate incidents would assist investigators to track offenders, strengthen community trust, and assist in the design and operationalization of proactive strategies to keep communities safe.
Disclose hate crime incident reports in an annual report from the office of the Solicitor General or other appropriate Minister.
Standardize hate crime reporting across B.C. and mandate annual reporting by every police force.
Provide additional resources to strengthen existing police hate crime units. Where such units do not yet exist, funding should be provided to establish them. An emphasis should be placed on online hate, which often incites individuals to carry out real-world hate crimes.
Change Crown policy directives and train Crown prosecutors to emphasize the public interest in addressing hate-motivated crimes.