Hate Crimes

If you have been the victim of a hate crime:

• Write down any information about what happened
• Ask if anyone witnessed the crime
• Take pictures of any hate motivated vandalism
• Keep any evidence such as letters or other propaganda

Visit our Make a Report page if you wish to get us involved.

It is also a crime to advocate genocide or incite hatred publicly.

Advocating genocide

It is an offence to support or promote genocide. Genocide is the systemic elimination of a group of people who are of the same race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other similar factor(s). This includes:

• Killing members of the group
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
• Inflicting conditions intended to destroy a group
• Preventing births within the group
• Removing children from the group 

Public incitement of hatred

This occurs when a person makes statements in a public place that incite hatred against an identifiable group that could lead to a breach of the peace, or promotes hatred against an identifiable group. This could include:

• spoken words
• recordings
• images
• signs

Section 718.2(a)(i) of the Criminal Code of Canada encourages judges to consider an increased sentence for crimes motivated by bias, prejudice or hate.