The latest numbers show hate crimes in Halifax and Nova Scotia continue to rise, with politics and national and global conflicts often having an impact, police say.
On Wednesday, Halifax’s board of police commissioners heard from Halifax Regional Police and Halifax RCMP about how they handle hate crimes and engage with communities.
In the municipality, there were 121 hate crimes reported in 2023, and 72 in 2022, according to Statistics Canada. That’s a major jump from a decade ago, when just seven were reported in 2014.
That leaves Halifax with a rate of 23 incidents per 100,000 people, which is the fifth-highest in Canada. The highest rates were reported in Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo (33.9), Peterborough (33.5) and Ottawa-Gatineau (30.5).
Const. Madeleine Goldsmith, diversity inclusion officer for HRP, told the board that these crimes are still vastly underreported.
“The stats are pretty scary if you start to think about it from that perspective. We really are looking at the tip of the iceberg,” Goldsmith said.
Nova Scotia had the highest rate of police-reported hate crime in Canada in 2023 by province or territory, with 18 incidents per 100,000 people. Nunavut was second, followed by Ontario.
In Halifax, the most targeted characteristic is race, with hate toward Black, South Asian and Arab/West Asian groups being the most common. A staff report said hatred toward actual or perceived newcomers (xenophobia) is the second-most targeted characteristic, then sexual orientation, religion and gender.
This generally fits the national trend, with the exception of religion, which is the second-most targeted characteristic across Canada year over year.
Goldsmith said she often hears that people don’t want to report incidents out of fear of retaliation, a mistrust of police or being desensitized to these types of situations.
“It’s alarming when we talk to communities and we start talking about what a hate crime is under the law legally, and … they’re like ‘oh — no idea that that was a hate crime. That’s just behaviour I receive so frequently it’s normalized,'” Goldsmith said.
Goldsmith said these cases can have a “unique” community-wide impact, unlike other crimes. If graffiti is painted on a store to target the owner, for instance, anyone in the community who shares that identity could experience the same fear, she said.
Among the 121 hate crimes reported in Halifax for 2023, only 14 cases saw charges laid.
Goldsmith said it’s often hard to find who has committed the crime. In a case involving graffiti, for example, the person responsible would be gone when it was discovered, she said. There might not be enough evidence or victims might not want to go through the court process.
Coun. Tony Mancini asked whether Halifax police have seen a rise in hate crimes in light of comments from U.S. President Donald Trump “that there are only two genders”, or his campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
“What can we do?” Mancini said. “To hear that hate crimes are underreported because it’s [felt] to be normalized behaviour is unacceptable.”
Anecdotally, Goldsmith said, she hears about alt-right groups becoming louder and more open in their thoughts, “which can certainly impact the stats on graffiti.” She said the 2SLGBTQ+ community has been dealing with a “general sense of fear” in the wake of Trump’s comments, and other communities have told her they hear “emboldened voices” showing them more hate.
But national politics also play a role, Goldsmith said. When Canada’s immigration policy changed last year to cut the number of new permanent residents, she said international students in Halifax faced “increased pressures” and isolation.
Polarized politics makes police’s job ‘much harder’
“The social polarization really, really is a driving factor for increase in hate,” Goldsmith said. “It’s sad to see that politics nationally, geopolitically, are kind of moving to that polarized state. It makes our job much harder.”
Hate crimes are criminal offences motivated by hate or prejudice, and could include someone making racial slurs when they assault someone, or graffiti with discriminatory language.
Both Halifax police forces are also tracking hate incidents, which are not criminal acts but still behaviours motivated by bias or prejudice. Examples might include racial or religious slurs being used, or someone being told to go back to their country of origin.
Between 2022 and 2024, HRP and Halifax RCMP recorded 742 hate incidents across the region, with the vast majority (711) being from HRP urban territory.
Joanne Smith, research and development co-ordinator with HRP, said this data is helpful to see if certain areas or populations are being targeted. That way, community outreach and education could prevent things escalating to a criminal level.
Commissioner Yemi Akindoju, who is Black, said he has experienced plenty of hateful remarks, even on the golf course.
“The reason why it’s not being reported is because it’s just too many times,” he said.
The staff report said one factor behind the rising statistics is likely an increase in police attention and enforcement. HRP set up its hate crime unit in 2022. It’s currently staffed with one detective, but a second is expected to start their training in November.
The Nova Scotia RCMP have a hate crime co-ordinator who reviews cases and provides expertise to Mounties around the province.
The Halifax staff report said the number of police-reported hate crimes is rising across Canada. They rose by 32 per cent between 2022 (3,612) and 2023 (4,777), marking the third increase in four years. The overall number in Canada has more than doubled since 2019.
