Police across Canada are investigating more and more hate crimes, and that includes authorities in Windsor.
According to data from Stats Canada released Thursday, police-reported hate crime increased sharply in 2017 with incidents targeting blacks, Jews and Muslims accounting for most of the national increases.
Hate crimes targeting black people accounted for 16 per cent of all hate crimes in Canada in 2017. They stayed the most common type of race- or ethnicity-related hate crime.
Incidents involving Muslims more than doubled between 2016 and 2017, one year after police reported a decrease in hate crimes targeting that population.
Hate crimes targeting Jews increased for the second consecutive year and accounted for 18 per cent of all hate crimes nationally.
Data for Windsor, Lakeshore, Tecumseh, LaSalle and Amherstburg shows 19 hate crime incidents investigated by police last year, compared to 10 in 2016 per 100,000 population.
Overall in 2017, police reported 2,073 hate crimes, an increase of 664 from 2016.
The agency says the figure is an all-time high since comparable data became available in 2009, but cautions the increases could be related to more reporting rather than an increase in actual incidents.
One of the leaders of the Multicultural Council of Windsor-Essex tells AM800 News the increase could be partially due to the fact more people are reporting hate crimes to police.
"We discuss what is racism, what is bigotry, what is hate speech and what is a hate crime,” says Fred Francis, the Director of Programs and Development for the MCC.
"There is more work to be done with respect to teaching people about the benefits of multiculturalism, the benefits of immigration and the benefits of diversity," adds Francis.
