Greater Victoria has made the top 10 list for hate crimes in the Canadian Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA).
According to Statistics Canada, Greater Victoria – which consists of the entire Capital Regional District– had a jump of more than double its hate crimes between 2015 and 2016, from seven to 17.
While 17 hate crimes may not seem very high, when translated to a per capita basis of 100,000, Greater Victoria sat at 4.6, ranking 10th out of 33 other CMAs.
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The top 10 cities rank as: Hamilton, Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Guelph, Quebec City, Vancouver, Toronto, Moncton, Montreal and Victoria.
This follows an overall national trend of a slight increase in hate crimes between 2015 to 2016, to total 1,409.
Nationally, police saw most hate crimes were motivated by race or ethnicity, with an increased targeting of South Asians, Arabs or West Asians, and a slight drop in targeting Muslims.
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There was also an increase in crimes targeting sexual orientation, with 11 more than the previous year in British Columbia.
Overall, B.C.’s hate crime increased from 164 to 211, with a focus on people of East or Southeast Asian and South Asian populations. This provincial jump was seconded only by Quebec.
The Victoria Police Department, the Saanich Police Department, the Oak Bay Police Department and the West Shore RCMP and were contacted for comments on local hate crimes, but did not respond by the time of writing.
