Tracking hate: city of Edmonton introduces tool to identify and report hate symbols

Edmonton peace officers have a new way to identify and track hate symbols throughout the city.

In partnership with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the city’s newly-created “Lighthouse” tool will allow the city to better respond to acts of hate, according to ADL’s vice president Oren Segal.

“This app allows the city to recognize trends related to hate and respond more effectively to protect its citizens,” said Segal.

Lighthouse includes a phone app for image labeling and analysis. Frontline workers will take pictures of potential hate symbols through the app and the pictures will be stored with a timestamp and geolocation. The city said this will help identify patterns.

“We must always be vigilant against hate and extremism, and Edmonton’s Lighthouse shines the way,” Segal said.

This comes after city council amended the public spaces bylaw in August 2021 to include harassment on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity, and to include non-verbal communication like gestures and hate symbols.

“(Lighthouse) will be an important tool when it comes to supporting and strengthening investigations, and for long-term geographic tracking of symbols in the community,” said Kris Andreychuk, manager of data science and research for the city.

Complaints about hate symbols in graffiti have been decreasing over the last four years, from 68 complaints in 2019 to 54 in 2022, according to a city report in the the Jan. 16 community and public services committee meeting agenda.

“These graffiti tags are generally removed within four hours of being reported to the City and the city has removed every tag where a complaint was made. It is difficult to catch an individual in the act of graffiti, particularly as it relates to hate symbols,” said the report.

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“To date, no fines have been issued.”

The city will also provide ADL with access to the new tool for the organization’s use, and potentially for their other chapters and other organizations across the country.

For now, the app and data collected won’t be open to the public. The city encourages those who find a hate symbol to call 311.