Canada

How hate crime data is collected

Police-reported hate crimes refer to criminal incidents that, upon investigation by police, are found to have been motivated by hatred toward an identifiable group, as defined in subparagraph 718.2(a)(i) of the Criminal Code of Canada. An incident may be against a person or property and may target race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, language, sex, age, or mental or physical disability, among other factors. In addition, there are four specific offences listed as hate propaganda offences or hate crimes in the Criminal Code of Canada: advocating genocide, public incitement of hatred, willful promotion of hatred and mischief motivated by hate in relation to religious property.

Police determine whether or not a crime was motivated by hatred and indicate the type of motivation based on information gathered during the investigation and common national guidelines for record classification. Depending on the level of evidence at the time of the incident, police can record it as either a "suspected" or "confirmed" hate-motivated crime. The hate crime is classified by the perception of the accused (even if this perception is inaccurate), not by the victim's characteristics. As more information is gathered, incidents are reviewed and verified and their status may be reclassified.

The collection of police-reported hate crime data occurs at the time the incident is reported. Police-reported hate crimes have been collected since 2004 through the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey. There are three databases for this survey - the incident file, the accused and the victim file. A detailed analytical article is also produced every year about the hate crime data.

In 2017 The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics at Statistics Canada (CCJS), working together with the Police Information Statistics Committee (POLIS) of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) amended the definition of founded incidents to include third party reporting. An incident is “founded” if, after police investigation it is determined that the reported offence did occur or was attempted (even if the charged/suspect chargeable is unknown), or if there is no credible evidence to confirm that the reported incident did not take place. This includes third party reports that fit these criteria. In 2019, the CCJS conducted a consultation with police, civil society and academics with the goal of reviewing the existing data collection categories regarding hate crime and identifying data gaps in order to ensure that the information collected is relevant.