Ottawa, June 8, 2011 – The Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, today issued the following statement on the growing number of hate crime incidents in Canada.
“I am deeply concerned by the numbers reported by Statistics Canada. Although part of this increase is due to greater awareness and more vigilant reporting: nevertheless, any incident of hate-based crime is completely contrary to the Canadian values of tolerance and respect for diversity.
“The number of hate crimes reported by Canadian police increased 42 percent between 2008 and 2009. There were increases in all three main categories of hate crimes – those motivated by race, religion and sexual orientation. The greatest increase was in incidents based on religion. They rose by 55 percent, including increases in hate crimes against Catholics, Muslims and Jews. The number of incidents against Jews rose 71 percent between 2008 and 2009.
“The Government of Canada will continue to use our strong mandate to fight hate crimes by committing $1.6 million annually to support security enhancements for sites at risk of being targeted in communities victimized by hate-motivated crime. This extension of the Security Infrastructure Pilot Program on an ongoing basis was announced as part of the next phase of Canada’s Economic Action Plan.”
For further information (media only), please contact:
Candice Malcolm
Minister’s Office
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Media Relations
Communications Branch
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
613-952-1650
CIC-Media-Relations@cic.gc.ca
