Hate crime incidents in Saskatchewan, like in most of Canada, have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a recently-released report from Statistics Canada (StatsCan), police reported an increase of 12 per cent in 2021 where there was a total of 57 incidents, which follows a 55-per cent increase in 2020.
“So from 2019 to 2021, the hate crimes incidents per 100,000 population in Canada increased 70 per cent and it increased 75 per cent in Saskatchewan,” said Warren Silver, StatsCan analyst.
“Much of the increase is due to higher number of race ethnicity in Saskatchewan as well as religion. So, hate crimes, tech talk that we’re targeting sexual orientation dropped a little bit from 10 incidents in 2020 to eight incidents in 2021.“
The rate in Saskatchewan is 4.9 incidents per 100,000, whereas it’s 8.8 incidents per 100,000 for Canada in total. StatsCan specifically looked at two cities in Saskatchewan.
“Regina saw an increase from 18 incidents to 25 incidents in 2021, which is a 38 per cent increase. Saskatoon saw an increase from four incidents to nine incidents in 2021.”
In the report, StatsCan stated the number of hate crimes reported by police in Canada rose from 2,646 incidents in 2020 to 3,360 in 2021, a 27 per cent increase. Higher numbers of hate crimes targeting a given religion, sexual orientation, and race or ethnicity accounted for most of the reported increase from 2020 to 2021.
“The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated experiences of discrimination in Canada — including hate crimes — and underscored an increase in discourse around issues of systemic discrimination,” the report read.
The full report can be read on the StatsCan website.
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