Anti-Racism Strategy and Action Plan on Hate

This fact sheet provides an overview of Canada’s new Anti-Racism Strategy and Canada’s first ever Action Plan on Combatting Hate (CAPCH).

Canada's Anti-Racism Strategy 2019-2022 is designed to lay a foundation to tackle systemic racism through immediate horizontal actions across the Government of Canada.

In addition to developing a new anti-racism strategy, the Government signalled its commitment to tackle hate by calling for the first ever Action Plan on Combatting Hate in Budget 2022.

The Action Plan is intended to address hate as it relates to racialized and religious minority communities in Canada and their intersections.

While the anti-racism strategy focuses on the broader systemic level, CAPCH is more narrowly focused on hate incidents and hate crimes and violent extremism.

Context

Launched on June 25, 2019, “Building a Foundation for Change: Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy” was initiated after extensive cross-country consultations and aims to build long-term changes in supporting communities and improving policies, initiatives, and practices in federal institutions.

In 2020, police-reported hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity almost doubled compared to the previous year, accounting for the vast majority of the national increase in hate crimes. According to Statistics Canada, in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic alone, police reported 2,669 hate crimes in Canada, up 37% from 2019. That is why the Government of Canada is taking action to address the troubling rise in hate incidents.^{Footnote 1}

As an extension of the Government of Canada’s commitment to combat hate, on November 25, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named the Honourable Irwin Cotler as Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism.^{Footnote 2}

On January 28, 2022, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, reconfirmed the federal government’s intention to appoint a special representative on combatting Islamophobia as a part of a renewed Government of Canada Anti-Racism Strategy.^{Footnote 3}

On March 29, 2022, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Canada’s Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, launched consultations to build Canada’s first ever Action Plan on Combatting Hate.^{Footnote 4}

On January 26, 2023, Canada’s first Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia was appointed for a four year term, effective February 20, 2023. Amira Elghawaby will serve as a champion, advisor, expert and representative to the Canadian government for the purpose of enhancing efforts to combat Islamophobia and to address barriers facing Muslim communities.

Community Consultations

From October 2018 to March 2019, engagement sessions were held across the country to gather input from Canadians, especially those with lived experiences of racism and discrimination, to inform the development of a new federal anti-racism strategy. The engagement process consisted of 22 in-person forums with approximately 600 people and 443 organizations. Sessions were held in partnership with community groups and First Nations, Métis and Inuit People. Equally, all Canadians were invited to participate through an online poll and survey.^{Footnote 5}

Additionally, 21 roundtable consultations with stakeholders were held in 2022 to inform the development of Canada’s new Anti-Racism Strategy and an Action Plan on Combatting Hate.

These consultations build on the extensive work of the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat appointed by the Government of Canada, which engaged thousands of Indigenous people, as well as members of racialized and religious minority communities. Over 35,000 people were engaged through town halls and summits, including the national summits on antisemitism and Islamophobia, resulting in over 400 recommendations collected to inform an Action Plan on Combatting Hate and a new anti-racism strategy.^{Footnote 6}

On July 21, 2021, the National Summit on Antisemitism was convened by Minister Chagger and Special Envoy Irwin Cotler to identify ways in which organizations, communities, individuals, and the federal government can work together to increase public awareness, enhance community security, combat misinformation and online hate, and identify new measures necessary to combat antisemitism.

The Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat is currently synthesizing what they heard from communities across Canada in their various engagement sessions to inform the development of a new anti-racism action strategy for Canada.^{Footnote 7}

Key Investments

Announced on June 25, 2019, Building a Foundation for Change: Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy represents an investment of close to $100 million.^{Footnote 8}

Budget 2022 proposes to provide $85 million over four years, starting in 2022-23, to the department of Canadian Heritage to support work underway to launch a new Anti-Racism Strategy and an Action Plan on Combatting Hate. This funding will support community projects that ensure that Indigenous, Black, racialized/religious Canadians have access to resources that support their full participation in the Canadian economy, while also raising awareness of issues related to `hate, racial and religious discrimination in Canada.

Budget 2022 committed $5.6 million over five years, with $1.2 million ongoing to support the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism.^{Footnote 9}

To keep alive the memory of those murdered during the Holocaust and combat both historical distortions and Holocaust denial, Budget 2022 proposes to provide $20 million in 2022-23 to the department of Canadian Heritage to support the construction of the new Holocaust Museum in Montréal; and an investment of $2.5 million for the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre, as has been approved through the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund and Museum Assistance Program. Additional support will be provided to the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver.^{Footnote 10}

Budget 2022 committed $5.6 million over five years, with $1.2 million ongoing to support the new Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia.^{Footnote 11}

Budget 2022 proposes to provide $50 million over two years, starting in 2022-23, to Employment and Social Development Canada for the Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative, to continue empowering Black-led and Black-serving community organizations and the work they do to promote inclusiveness. ^{Footnote 12}

Budget 2022 proposes to provide $4 million in 2022-23 to the department of Canadian Heritage to help support the Muslims in Canada Archive. This funding will allow the Archive to continue its work with national archival and Muslim community organizations to acquire, organize, preserve, and make accessible, records of and about Muslim people and organizations in Canada.^{Footnote 13}