How Novel: "To Tackle Hate Head On"

"I met with representatives from the Pride communities and had an open discussion about their  concerns."

"As a police service, we fully support the 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities, and we are working with them to ensure that people who attend public events feel safe doing so"

"We continue to work toward a strong relationship with the 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities to further build trust."

Ottawa police Chief Eric Stubbs 

"We've been warning about rising hate across Canada and in Ottawa for years now. These numbers just show that what we've been hearing and saying absolutely lines up with the data."

"A lot of our institutions and our elected officials think this is an anomaly and that it's going to go away. That's not how you tackle hate."

"...It's not an anomaly. It shows that hate-motivated groups are pushing an agenda, and it's galvanizing homophobes and transphobes to be bolder in their acts of hate and harassment."

Fae Johnstone, executive director, Wisdom2Action

"I've not seen the level of hate as I have in the last six months. The rise in online hate, but also coupled with people showing up with signs, targeting artists, targeting community leaders."

"I see people using the trans and queer communities to try to further their political gain, to use diversity and inclusion as a wedge issue to pursue a regressive political issue."

"People are making money off hate and division. They're fundraising off it. They're running livestreams. They're building fan bases by showing up and disrupting events."

Toby Whitfield, executive director, Capital Pride

According to Ottawa Police Services reports of hate and/or bias-motivated incidents soared by 23.5 percent in the first six months of 2023. 158 of 221 reported hate-motivated incidents deemed criminal, 63 determined to be hate-motivated, but non-criminal. One formal charge of public incitement of hatred, according to police, while twenty-three individuals were charged with 56 counts of hate-motivated offences.

As the national capital of the country, reports ranging from robbery to threats to assault and harassment in the city of Ottawa have been noted; offences of this type steadily increasing; 340 reports filed in 2021, 377 submitted in 2022. An online campaign at Act4QueerSafety.ca issued six calls to action for the federal government "to tackle hate head on". 

Crimes reported in Ottawa in the first half of 2023:

• 62 incidents of mischief to property;
• 25 threats uttered to a person;
• 19 level one assaults;
• 15 incidents of criminal stalking or harassment;
• 6 incidents of mischief to a cultural property.

Groups predominantly affected in the year-to-date data include:

• 2SLGBTQQIA+ -- 32 incidents
• Jewish -- 36 incidents;
• Muslim -- 7 incidents;
• Black -- 30 incidents
• Chinese -- 8 incidents.

In Peterborough, Ontario, over the Canada Day long-weekend residents reported receiving flyers that promote anti-Jewish conspiracy theories along with white supremacist propaganda. This is the third incident in three months' time that such flyers were distributed in various city neighbourhoods. "It's just not acceptable that our brothers and sisters in the Jewish community have been targeted for this kind of vile hatred", stated Mayor Jeff Leal.

"For some reason, Peterborough seems to have become somewhat of a hot-bed of extremist right-wing sentiment."

"But the Jewish community itself has not been specifically targeted, just tarred with the same brush, or by inference, a slightly larger brush."

Ron Molnar, spokesman, Jewish Community Centre of Peterborough

"This increase in antisemitism we're seeing across the United States doesn't stop at the border unfortunately."

"It's definitely an expanding network. It started its expansion probably in 2020 when it was quite small, and it's grown to what it is today. And that, unfortunately, includes Canadians."

Carla Hill, director of investigative research, Anti-Defamation League

Sampling of fliers distributed by GDL in 2022

According to Peterborough Mayor Jeff Leal, the hate messages circulating in his city, originate in the United States. Not only he but others representing the Jewish community in Canada point to the U.S.-based hate group Goyim Defense League (GDL), described as a 'loose' network of people on the internet who stream antisemitic content and cook up stunts to harass Jews. The very name of their group represents a very special type of harassment, a mock-up of the Jewish Defense League, launched to protect Jews from racists just like those linked to this new neo-Nazi group.

 

As for the Peterborough police -- no individuals or groups responsible for the flyers have been specifically named, nor have any arrests been made. Anti-semitic and anti-Black graffiti was discovered on an city elementary school. From central Canada to Saskatoon, where antisemitic flyers were also found earlier this year -- also believed linked to GDL.

 

In 2020 the city of 84,000 residents some 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto, there was a rate of 19.4 police-reported hate crimes per 100,000 population, highest in the country, with Ottawa taking second billing at 18.7 cases per100,000 population, in 2021. Both cities well in excess of the national average of 8.8, according to Statistics Canada. Over half of hate crimes across Canada motivated by religion targeted Jewish people in 2021.

In 2022, 2,769 antisemitic incidents were recorded in 2022 in Canada, with 74 percent occurring online; a category that included social media posts and comments. As for as Dan Panneton, director of allyship and community engagement for the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, hate-related incidents linked to the GDL are on the upsurge, influencing online sympathizers to pass out flyers and propaganda shared on the internet; their strategic key.

"What this does is attract attention and it builds the perception that there is a significant Nazi presence in the area", he explained. Points of view and societally-impairing theories are always glad to see they've plenty of like-minded company. The GDL community appears to have grown substantially in influence in the United States, its message seeping into other countries. As an example, according to Carla Hill, an estimated 100 people actively distribute propaganda, and behind them are thousands who support it.

GDL participants who posed as Jews while distributing propaganda in Canyon, Texas in 2021.

 

"Hate operates on various levels. It's not just property damage and vandalism -- hate also operates on the psychological and moral plane."

"It is cowardice that keeps them from being seen and what they are trying to do is have a psychological effect on members of the community."

Gerry Almendrades, security adviser, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs