Ontario government announces funding to combat rise in hate crimes

It comes after Ottawa and other cities across the country saw a significant increase in hate crimes in 2023, according to police data.

Published Jan 15, 2024  •  2 minute read

Michael Kerzner, Ontario’s Solicitor General, said new funding for combatting hate crimes program will “empower” communities to partner with law enforcement. Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young /The Canadian Press

The Ontario government has announced $1.7 million in spending over two years to support community-based groups fighting hate crimes.

It comes after Ottawa and other cities across the country saw a significant increase in hate crimes in 2023, according to police data.

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In Ottawa Monday, Solicitor General Michael Kerzner announced the province’s Safer and Vital Communities Grant, an annual funding program for community group-based non-profits and First Nations Bands. This year’s theme of the grant is preventing hate-motivated crime through community collaboration. These groups must partner with their local police force to receive a grant up to $85,000 for projects tackling hate-motivated crime.

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Kerzner said the program will “empower” communities to partner with law enforcement. He added the Ford government had a “zero tolerance policy” for hate and discrimination, in light of the rise in hate-motivated crimes across the province.

“We will always stand with victims, survivors and our community partners seeking to protect the most vulnerable from harm’s way,” he said Monday. “People in Ontario have the inherent right to live safely in their own communities, to wake up their kids in the morning and to see them off to school, to go to work, to shop, to play in the park and to pray.”

Ottawa Police Service chief Eric Stubbs said the rise in hate crimes has been top of mind for local officers. Ottawa saw 460 criminal and non-criminal hate-related incidents in 2023, compared to 385 in 2022, he said — an increase of approximately 20 per cent. The Jewish community and LGBTQ+ community are most commonly targeted, he said, accounting for approximately half of all incidents.

“The increased number of hate crimes and hate-motivated incidents are concerning,” he said. “We are investigating all reported incidents of hate crime that have resulted in a number of charges laid in relation to hate-motivated incidents.”

Education, Stubbs said, is key in addressing hate crimes.

“A lot of offenders need that education that what they’re seeing, what they’re doing, what they’re carrying, be it a flag or a sign, that is a criminal code offence.”

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