Saskatoon police hate crimes unit hones in on hate motivation in the community

The Saskatoon Police Service Hate Crimes Unit has been operating for one year now, and Chief Troy Cooper talked about what they are seeing, and the plans for the unit going forward.

He said the unit was created in response to a troubling trend across Canada, with hate crimes on the rise.

“We saw national statistics around hate crimes rising, and we had some issues locally, cases locally, that involved hate, and we wanted to make sure that we, first of all, knew what was happening in Saskatoon, that we could assess what the community was experiencing and that we could respond appropriately,” Cooper said.

He said this unit helps collect data, but also acts in response to that data.

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Cooper said they’ve started to document hate crimes more clearly, noting that if a crime occurs and hate is a motivator, it’s something to be considered during sentencing.

The Saskatoon Police Service had more than 200 incidents last year where hate was a component, whether it was a crime or not.

“Forty-six times last year a crime occurred where hate was part of it, and on ten occasions we laid charges or worked with the Crown to make sure that would be noted at sentencing for those offences.”

Cooper gave an example of an assault that is hate-motivated, noting that in the past the motivation behind that assault might not have been a consideration during sentencing.

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“I think we’re doing a better job now of making sure that we acknowledge that occurs, that we’re providing services to the victims, and that the courts have the full picture of the offence.”

He said in some cases where a hate-motivated incident isn’t deemed a crime, police can offer services to victims or redirect those people to other organizations.

Cooper noted they are working to be proactive, saying he hopes to get information from groups affected by hate crimes in the community to learn about how they can prevent these incidents from happening in the future.