CPS said the jump in files reviewed is due in part to increased public awareness to report such crimes.
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The number of files being reviewed by the Calgary Police Service Hate Crimes Unit has increased dramatically in the last three years.
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Data provided by CPS shows that 385 files were reviewed for possible hate or bias motivation in 2021. That number is up from 240 files in 2020 and 160 in 2019. Of those 300-plus files, 114 were found to be motivated crimes. for hate or bias, up from 121 such crimes in 2020, but up from 73 in 2019. Meanwhile, the number of non-criminal hate-motivated incidents nearly doubled last year, rising to 81, compared to 43 in 2020 and 42 in 2019.
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The number of files that were reviewed but were ultimately found not to be motivated by hate or bias in 2021 was 189, up from 76 in 2020. CPS said the jump in files reviewed is due in part to an increased effort by the hate crimes unit to investigate deeper and broader for hate motivators, as well as increased public awareness to report such crimes.
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Const. Matt Messenger of the CPS Hate Crimes Unit said this year’s numbers are on par with what his team saw last year. He said that he typically sees more discrimination directed at racialized groups over other types of hate.
“I would say that there is no specific group that is more victimized than others,” Messenger said. “In terms of their racial ethnicity, versus, say, homophobic or towards sexual orientation, I think there are definitely more racist incidents.”
Messenger said that over the past year, the team saw a huge increase in discrimination directed at Calgarians, Russians and Ukrainians following the start of the conflict between the two countries. He said there have also been cases where he has had to respond to protests around COVID-19 and public health measures due to the use of racist symbols, such as the use of swastikas.
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The CPS data release came after the Organization for the Prevention of Violence released a report that found most extremism and violent extremism is being carried out by lone actors rather than organized groups in the province.
Messenger said he agrees with that finding locally, noting that there is a very limited presence of organized hate groups in Calgary.
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“I think that’s pretty much all we saw last year. I would even say last year and this year, we’re not seeing anything specifically related to any group,” Messenger said. “There have been some reports of these WLM stickers and the white supremacist stickers being circulated. But nothing really, that can say that they have been specific groups or organizations.
Messenger said the team sees a lot of files that relate to young people spray-painting swastikas on structures without really knowing the meaning behind the symbol. He said there are also files reporting that neighborhood disputes are motivated by hate or prejudice, but in reality they are simply disagreements.
Figures from Statistics Canada show that the total number of hate crime incidents reported by police in census metropolitan areas across the country rose to 3,360 in 2021, up from 1,951 in 2019. That represents 8.8 reported crimes for every 100,000 people.