Canadian Race Relations Foundation

League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada explores the occurrence of hate crimes in Canada during the first six months of 2002. The report outlines its findings in terms of violence, vandalism, or harassment; and brakes down the data according to the number of reported incidents in the provinces across Canada. The report also shows data according to the month and provides a brief description of the incident in question. The document also explores hate crime definitions along with key sections of federal legislation, such as, The Criminal Code, the Canadian Human Rights Act, and the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Experts agree that passions unleashed by shock waves reverberating around the world post September 11 have exposed just how thin the veneer of civilization really is. However, while in general anti-minority sentiment in Canada appears to have calmed down, in the case of attitudes to the Jewish community, it appears to have become almost acceptable to express varying levels of prejudice and bias, especially if the anti-Jewish sentiment can be couched in terms of anti-Zionist rhetoric. Certainly, the incidents under review in this Audit support the contention that old hatreds, sustained by an abundance of anti-Semitic canards over the centuries, have gained new ground due in no small part to the unfettered rhetoric at Durban and the propaganda efforts of both the far Right and the far Left. (p. 12).