Hate crimes in Canada rose for the sixth straight 12 months, in line with recent data from Statistics Canada, which shows attacks against the Jewish community far outweighed other forms of religiously motivated attacks in 2024.
The report released last week provides some insight into the motivations of police-reported hate crimes. The highest factor was race and ethnicity, religion was the second most typical motivating factor and sexual orientation got here third.
In total, there have been 4,882 hate crimes reported in 2024, a rise of 1 per cent from the 4,828 in 2023, a part of a broader surge in hate crimes reported since 2020.
Inside the category of hate crimes motivated by religion, 2024 saw 1,342 hate crimes, which was roughly the identical as 2023 at 1,345, and up from 768 in 2022.
In 2024, of the 1,343 reported hate crimes that were classified as motivated by religion, those targeting the Jewish community accounted for 920, or roughly 68 per cent.
The following largest variety of religiously motivated hate crimes were those targeting Muslim Canadians, with 229 reports in 2024, up barely from 220 incidents in 2023 and 109 in 2022.
For Catholics, 61 hate crimes were reported in 2024, in comparison with 49 in 2023 and 52 in 2022.
Religious groups classified by Statistics Canada under the “other” category saw rising hate crime reports as well, with 105 incidents in 2024, 85 in 2023 and 62 in 2022.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the globe, join for breaking news alerts delivered on to you once they occur.
The findings come just over one month after the National Holocaust Memorial in Ottawa was defaced, resulting in charges against a 46-year-old Ottawa man. The investigation was led by the Ottawa Police Service’s hate and bias crime unit.
“The most recent police-crime statistics are shocking — in 2024, a Jewish Canadian was 25 times more more likely to experience a hate crime than some other Canadian,” said Noah Shack, CEO on the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, in an emailed statement.
“But numbers don’t paint the total picture. They reflect only a fraction of what Jewish Canadians experience day-after-day. The each day reality is families wondering if it’s protected to walk to synagogue, school buses being checked for explosives, and students being bullied and harassed for being Jewish.”
The Muslim Canadian community has also been the main target of religiously motivated hate crimes and attacks, with police reported incidents also on the rise. The Muslim Advisory Council of Canada (MACC) describes the rising trend as “deeply troubling, but sadly not surprising.”
“Our communities proceed to be singled out for his or her faith, facing verbal abuse, physical attacks, and systemic discrimination across private and non-private spaces,” says board director Tabassum Wyne on the MACC in an emailed statement.
“This data confirms what we’ve long been raising: anti-Muslim hate in Canada shouldn’t be only persistent, it’s growing and it’s putting lives in danger. Behind these numbers are people, families, living in fear. That can not be the Canadian reality we accept.”
Although instances of antisemitism usually are not latest in Canada, the recent spikes in reports of hate crimes targeting the Jewish community increased year-over-year by 82 per cent in 2023 in comparison with 2022, Statistics Canada data shows.
Late 2023 marked the beginning of a tense conflict within the Middle East stemming from the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The attack killed 1,200 people in Israel, with a whole lot taken hostage.
The conflict has continued to escalate and stays ongoing, with attempts to achieve a ceasefire repeatedly failing.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.