Hate crimes are down 26.4 per cent in Hamilton, new police report says

Reported hate crimes in Hamilton decreased 26.4 per cent in 2019, police say, with the highest number against members of the city's black community.

A new Hamilton Police Service report says there were 84 incidents last year with hate/bias overtones, and eight hate/bias crimes.

Of those, 42 were based on religion, most frequently against the Jewish community. Black Hamiltonians were targeted in 34 of the 38 racial incidents. In four cases, gender identity was a factor, and in eight, people were targeted about sexual orientation.

Of the criminal charges laid, there were two assaults and three assaults with a weapon, all racially motivated, while three cases were mischief/graffiti.

In 2018, there were 125 crimes and incidents, compared to 92 in 2019, the report says.

The numbers come after a year of public discussion around hate crimes, particularly after violence at Hamilton's 2019 Pride Festival, and more than ayear of weekend city hall protests by people in yellow vests. The city is implementing a new trespassing bylaw it says is aimed at hate incidents on city property, and police have released a new online portal to report incidents.

Statistics Canada also released a report last summer saying that the Hamilton census metropolitan area had the highest number of reported hate incidents in Canada.

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Mayor Fred Eisenberger, who also serves as police services board chair, said the lower numbers are positive, but the discussion still needs to happen.

"We still encourage people in the community to report early and often," he said.

"One hate crime in any community is one too many. It deserves the attention that it gets."

Kojo Damptey, interim executive director for the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion (HCCI), said the numbers which he still thinks are high aren't necessarily an accurate reflection of what's happening.

"We know that the numbers are always underreported," he said. "Yes, there was a decrease, but what about those that didn't want to report at all?"

The board will discuss the numbers on Thursday. The reportuses the Policing Standards of Ontario definition of "hate/bias crime," which is "a criminal offence committed against a person or property which is motivated solely, or in part, by the suspect's hate/bias against a person's race, religion, national or ethnic origin, colour, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, age, sex or similar factor."

Over the last decade, the average number of reported hate crimes and incidents is 128.4 per year.