JustFacts
Victims of Hate Crime, 2015-2021
January 2023
Data in this fact sheet are from the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR) and the 2019 General Social Survey on Canadians’ Safety (also known as the GSS on Victimization). The UCR Survey collects data on police-reported crime and the GSS on Victimization collects self-reported data on victimization from those aged 15 years and older living in the provinces and territories.Footnote1
This fact sheet focuses on police-reported hate crime and, primarily, violent hate crime.Footnote2 A hate crime is defined in the UCR as a criminal violation motivated by hate, based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, or any other similar factor.Footnote3Footnote4 Victims are only identified in the UCR where there is a violent offence.
Most self-reported hate crimes not reported to police
According to the GSS on Victimization, less than a third (29%) of criminal incidents came to the attention of police. Many victims of crime, including those who experienced violent victimization, chose not to report an incident to the police for various reasons including: lack of confidence in the criminal justice system and police, the perception that the incident was too minor or not important enough, or that the incident was private or personal in nature.Footnote5
Respondents to the survey were asked if they believed their violent victimization had been motivated by hate. Of the 223,000 criminal incidents were perceived to be motivated by hate, 22% of victims reported the incident(s) to the police.
Violent hate crimes have increased each year since 2015
Between 2015 and 2021, the total number of victims of violent hate crimes increased by 158%. The total number of female-identified victims (adult and children and youth) increased by 229% between 2015 and 2021, with the number female-identified adult victims increasing by 208%. The number of male-identified victims (adult and children and youth) also increased in the same time-period by 125%, with the number of male-identified victims increasing by 132%.Footnote6
Hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity have increased each year since 2015, making up 63% of all violent hate crime victims between 2015 and 2021
Overall, between 2015 and 2021, there was a 194% increase in the number of victims of violent hate crimes motivated by race or ethnicity. For both children and youth and adult victims, the most commonly reported violent hate crime are hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity, with 57% of all children and youth victims and 63% of all adult victims targeted because of their race or ethnicity. In each age category, race or ethnicity accounted for over half of all violent hate crime victims, with it accounting for 64% of all male-identified adults, 62% of all female-identified adults, 59% of all female-identified children and youth, and 56% of all male-identified children and youth, respectively.Footnote7
Between 2019 and 2021, the number of police reported hate crime incidents motivated by race or ethnicity increased by 94%, and the number of victims of violent hate crimes motivated by race or ethnicity increased by 108% within the same time-period. Increases were largely due to increases in hate crimes against Black (+86%), East and Southeast Asian (+355%), Arab and West Asian (+47%) and Indigenous (+165%) communities within the same time-period.
Between 2015 and 2021, the number of children and youth victims of violent hate crimes increased
The number of children and youth victims of violent hate crime increased by 174%, a 10% greater increase than that seen in adults (+156%) in the same period. For male-identified children and youth, there was a 92% increase in the number of victims of violent hate crimes between 2015 and 2021, with the highest increase in victims seen between 2016 and 2021 (135%). Violent hate victimization increased by 348% for female-identified children and youth between 2015 and 2021. Moreover, between 2019 and 2021, violent hate crimes motivated by race or ethnicity against female-identified children and youth increased by 189%.Footnote8 Greater public and community awareness including visible examples of hate crime such as George Floyd’s murder,Footnote9 as well as the murder of four family members in London, Ontario in 2021Footnote10 – improved outreach to communities by police services, along with additional resources could have increased reporting of violent hate crimes in recent years.
Hate crimes targeting religion rose in 2021, following three years of decline
In 2021, police-reported hate crimes targeting religion rose by 57%. Total violent victimization for both adults and children and youth also increased by 57% in 2021. After peaking in 2017, the number of police reported hate crimes targeting religion, declined between by 37% between 2017 and 2020. The increase in 2021 is largely due to increases in hate crimes targeting Catholic (+260%), Muslim (+71%), and Jewish (+47%) religions.Footnote11Footnote12
Violent victimization targeting religion in both adults and children and youth had marked increases in comparison to the previous year (2020) with the number of children and youth victims increasing by 233% and the number of adult victims increasing by 45%.
Total number of victims of violent hate crime targeting sexual orientation increased in both adults and children and youth
Between 2015 and 2021, victims of hate crimes targeting sexual orientation accounted for less than 20% of all victims, however the total number of victims of violent hate crimes targeting sexual orientation increased by 150%. Moreover, the number of children and youth victims increased by 315% between 2015 and 2021. There is a higher percentage of children and youth victims of violent hate crimes targeting sexual orientation than adult victims. Between 2015 and 2021, 24% of all violent hate crimes targeting children and youth were motivated by sexual orientation, with 14% of all violent hate crimes targeting adults motivated by sexual orientation. Of note, of the 850 victims of violent hate crimes targeting sexual orientation between 2015 and 2021, 76% were male-identified adults and children, and youth.
- Date modified: