Hate crimes have increased 93% in Toronto since October 7, 2023, compared to the same period last year, according to a news release on Toronto Police Service data.
The news release highlighted the key points that Chief Myron Demkiw provided to the Toronto Police Services Board on hate crimes in the city.
“It has been 163 days since the Middle East crisis began, and the impact of the geopolitical unrest abroad continues to affect people worldwide, including in Canada and right here in Toronto,” said Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw. “We are laser focused on the task at hand: keeping the city safe.”
The police have attended to 989 hate crime calls since October 7, 2023, the same day that Hamas attacked Israel. During this timeframe, the Toronto police have laid 30 charges and made 24 protest-related arrests.
December and January saw a reduction in calls related to hate crimes, but February saw a significant increase of 67%.
“Of the 84 hate crimes so far in 2024, 56% are antisemitic. Last month saw the highest number of antisemitic occurrences in the last three years,” said Demkiw.
While antisemitism led the way, the second highest hate crimes were targeting the 2SLGBTQI+ community, followed by anti-Black, and anti-Muslim/Arab/Palestinian attacks.
Of 2024’s total hate crimes, 47 have been antisemitic. There have been 11 hate crimes targeting the 2SLGBTQI+, an increase from six at the same time last year. There have been five hate crimes targeting the anti-Muslim/Arab/Palestinian community, a rise from only one last year during this timeframe.
From October 2023 to February 2024, an average of 157 hate crimes were attended to each month.
2023 saw a 53% increase in hate crimes reported in Toronto, reaching 380 compared to 248 in 2022.
Since October 1, 2023, 203 hate crimes have been confirmed by the Toronto Police — an increase of 93% from the same period of the prior year.
There have been 69 arrests and 173 charges related to hate crimes since October 7, 2023. Mischief accounted for 25% of these charges, while uttering threats and assault accounted for 17 and 16%, respectively.
Hate-related graffiti was common, resulting in 342 occurrences since October 7, 2023.
There was a spike in hate-related graffiti in October and November 2023, followed by a decrease only to peak again in February 2024.
True North previously reported about Statistics Canada’s most recent data on hate crimes, showing 3,576 hate crime incidents in 2022. The report shows that hate crimes targeting the Jewish population accounted for 67% of all hate crimes targeting a religion.
Ontario had the most police-reported hate crimes in Canada in 2022 at 12.7 incidents per 100,000 people.