The Trudeau Government’s Fake Fight Against Antisemitism- Part 45

2018- The government responded to the report and recommendations of the House Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage with respect to Motion M- with a 21 page letter signed by Melanie Joly, then Minister of Canadian Heritage dated June 1, 2018

In pages 15 to 20 inclusive of the letter, the Minister focused on the issues of data and evidence on the persistence of racism and discrimination and emphasised government’s commitment to strengthen evidence based policy making. On this account, the Minister recognised the needs 

a. for better data on hate crime and hate incidents to ensure the safety and inclusion of the inhabitants of the country;

b. for extensive source of data  to provide on-going information on the nature and extent of hate crimes and hate incidents to obtain quality data;

to supplement Statistics Canada Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, Canada’s national database on police-reported hate crimes  that are reported on a monthly basis to Statistics Canada and released to the public on a yearly basis with  statistics concerning crimes that are  not reported to police or non-criminal hate incidents;

d. for the generation creation of extra-legal reporting options  to insure the inclusion of a national standardised database for any extra-legal reporting options;

e. for the generation of relevant and up to-date research on hate crime offenders in order to inform policies for counteracting hate and preventing hate-related criminality

f. to fix existing data gaps originating from

i. the data provided from the courts

ii. the significant variations in the reporting practices from one jurisdiction to another need for better data on hate crime and hate incidences;

iii. to fix the limited and inconsistent data from victims; and

iv. to fix the significant variation across jurisdictions in avenues for individuals to report hate incidents (as opposed to hate crimes). Accordingly, the Minister reported “that Public Safety Department will work with federal partners including the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics at Statistics Canadas as well as with other levels of government and experts and stakeholders outside government to develop more effective strategies for gathering data and conducting analysis. Such strategies could include supporting Statistics Canada efforts to improve the quality and quantity of data provided by law enforcement and the courts, including to support more disaggregated accounts of the characteristics of victims and offenders

g. for more  in-depth qualitative and quantitative research specialists are required to work with the appropriate government agencies to develop a research agenda to address the specific characteristics and motivations of hate crime offenders as well as the needs of hate crime victims because  the police reported data provides few characteristics of the motivational origins and intentions behind hate crimes as well as their impacts on victims, and                                  

h. to  train law enforcement professionals  in cultural sensitivity, bias awareness and diversity mindfulness ,cultural competence in order to deal with incidents where hate is  or appears to be the motivating factor, and  to provide  the necessary  funding to agencies that provide such training.                                                                

Note: The rendition of the Minister’s narrative concerning hate crimes and incidents; the statistics concerning these crimes and incidents; law enforcement and sensitivity training is not verbatim. However, it is an accurate rendition of it  

2022- Jing Hui Wang and Greg Moreau, Police-reported hate crime in Canada, 2020 Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, March 17, 2022

2022- Julian Roberts addressed the problems and limitations of the current statistical data collection system hate crimes in a national and international comparative perspective and formulated 20 valuable recommendations to remedy the current shortcomings. Disproportionate Harm: Hate Crime in Canada, Government of Canada August 25, 2022. 5. Recommendations and Conclusions.

P.S. Statistics Canada announced that sometime this month, it will be launching a new way of packaging and presenting statistical data. It remains to be seen whether this improvement will have a positive bearing on one or more of the problems identified above.

(to be cont’d with respect to refugees and immigration)