Richmond
2023-02-16 06:18 PST
On Tuesday, February 14th, 2023, Richmond RCMP presented its Monthly Activity Report for December 2022 and Year in Review to the City of Richmond. In it, Richmond RCMP reported a significant decline in ‘hate crimes’ and ‘hate incidents’ reported to police in 2022.
Overall, the number of reported ‘hate crimes’ and ‘hate incidents’ dropped by 24 percent, from 45 in 2021, to 34 in 2022.
Hate specific offences in the Criminal Code of Canada, include ‘advocating or promoting genocide’, and ‘inciting hatred.’ ‘Hate propaganda’ falls into these two categories. In Canada, ‘hate crimes’ include these offences, but they also include any criminal offence committed against a person or property, if that offence is motivated by hate. Whether it be based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other similar factor, ‘hate’ is one of many factors considered by the courts (judge or justice) during sentencing proceedings. That is, ‘hate’ is considered once an accused person has been convicted of a criminal offence.
Meantime, a ‘hate incident’ may be motivated by the same factors as a ‘hate crime’, but these are typically incidents where a criminal offence has not been committed. Derogatory, degrading and distasteful comments may fall into this category if there is no other criminal offence committed at the time.
Richmond RCMP recognizes that both ‘hate crimes’ and ‘hate incidents’ have a negative effect on our community, and we are committed to investigating all such complaints thoroughly.
While there was a very slight increase in reported ‘hate incidents’, an increase of two from 24 in 2021…
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