Building Bridges Workshops

Announcing the launch of a co-developed series of workshops to recognize and report hate crime across Canada.

Hate crimes in Canada are on the rise. According to Statistics Canada, from 2019 to 2022, the number of police-reported hate crimes rose by 83%. In addition, the self-reported victimization survey from 2019 shows that approximately 80% of what was perceived by victims as a hate-motivated crime were not reported to police in the 12 months preceding the survey.

In collaboration with Statistics Canada, the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF) is launching co-developed workshops to help build bridges across and within communities, as well as between communities and law enforcement. The RCMP, as national Hate Crimes Task Force co-Chair, supports the CRRF and Statistics Canada in the delivery of this important national initiative.

The goal of the initiative is to support communities, help address hate crime and improve hate crime reporting and identification. The initiative is the first of its kind and represents a significant milestone in addressing and preventing hate in Canada, and building a more inclusive and equitable society.

Two-day workshops are scheduled to take place in twelve cities across Canada. The first day will be led by Statistics Canada, and will be dedicated to training the policing community on how to identify and report hate crimes to the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR), which collects police-reported data in a standardized way and allows comparisons across the country and further analysis on the trends on hate crime. Inquiries regarding first day of the workshop/registration information can be directed to warren.silver@statcan.gc.ca.

The second day will be led by the CRRF, with the participation of Statistics Canada. Statistics Canada will provide a technical briefing to community members and civil sector practitioners on the following topics:

• Hate crime data trends using UCR and self-reported victimization data
• How to recognize hate crimes and non-criminal hate incidents
• Reporting hate
• Hate crime on the Internet

It will also offer information on the Criminal Code and Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to provide a foundational understanding of legal frameworks regarding hate. Following the training, participants can engage in a panel on community approaches to support victims of hate and join a discussion group to develop recommendations to address hate locally.

The event is intended for community members and practitioners (e.g., mental health, settlement) who work with communities experiencing hate.

Are you a community member/practitioner who works with communities experiencing hate?