The region saw an increase in hate crimes last year with 40 incidents in 2022 compared to 31 reported in 2021.
A report presented to the Halton Police Board on Thursday, Feb. 23 noted Oakville had the largest number of hate crimes at 17, followed by Burlington with 14, Milton with six and Halton Hills with three.
“It is up, and it is something we are continuing to monitor,” said Halton police Chief Stephen Tanner.
“We have cleared a number of those occurrences.”
There were also several suspected hate crimes reported in 2022 with four taking place in Oakville, two occurring in Milton and one in Halton Hills.
Deputy Chief Roger Wilkie said 29 of the 2022 hate crimes involved property damage/vandalism with hate-related slurs or symbols being spray-painted or scratched on public and private property.
Other incidents involved the theft of Pride flags.
The report noted the region also saw 31 hate/bias incidents reported in 2022 that didn’t meet the threshold of a hate crime.
Wilkie said these mostly involved racial or ethnic rhetoric communicated through social media or during in-person conflicts.
The report noted members of Halton’s Black community were the group most targeted by these hate-related occurrences with 21 incidents, followed by members of the LGBTQ2S+ community with 18 incidents, South Asian individuals with 11 incidents, members of the Jewish community with nine incidents, those of Middle Eastern decent with five incidents, members of the Muslim community with three incidents, East Asian people with two incidents, European people with two incidents, women with one incident, Hispanic people with one incident and Caucasian people with one incident.
It was acknowledged during the meeting that there is most likely a significant under-reporting of hate crimes in Halton.
“The majority of all reported hate-related occurrences were random in nature, had no definable pattern, and were believed to be committed by individuals and not by organized groups,”…
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