Report: Hate crimes on rise in Canada

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Report: Hate crimes on rise in Canada
OTTAWA, (UPI) -- Hate crimes in Canada increased 35 percent in one year, with more than half of them motivated by race or ethnicity, government figures show.

Police departments reported 1,036 hate crimes in 2008, 35 percent more than in 2007, with 55 percent motivated by race, 26 percent by religion and 16 percent by sexual orientation, a report released Monday by Statistics Canada showed. While all three categories of hate crime increased in 2008, the biggest jump was in crimes motivated by sexual orientation, which doubled from 2007 to 2008. The category also had the most violent hate crimes, with 75 percent motivated by sexual orientation.

Police-reported hate crimes refer to criminal incidents that, upon investigation by police, are determined to have been motivated by hate toward an identifiable group. The incident may target race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, language, sex, age, mental or physical disability, or other factors such as profession or political beliefs, the report said.

About two-thirds of religiously-motivated hate crimes were committed against Jews. There were 165 hate crimes targeting the Jewish faith in 2008, up 42 percent.

Police reported 30 hate crimes against Catholics, double the total in 2007. The 26 incidents against the Muslim faith represented a slight drop from 2007.

Among the hate crimes motivated by race or ethnicity, almost 40 percent were committed against blacks. Police reported 205 hate crimes against blacks in 2008, up 30 percent over 2007, but still lower than the 2006 total of 238.
 
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