Hate crimes in Canada rose for the sixth straight year, according to recent data from Statistics Canada, which shows attacks against the Jewish community far outweighed other types of religiously motivated attacks in 2024.
The report released last week provides some insight into the motivations of police-reported hate crimes. The top factor was race and ethnicity, religion was the second most common motivating factor and sexual orientation came third.
In total, there were 4,882 hate crimes reported in 2024, an increase of one per cent from the 4,828 in 2023, part of a broader surge in hate crimes reported since 2020.
Within the category of hate crimes motivated by religion, 2024 saw 1,342 hate crimes, which was roughly the same 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 next largest number of religiously motivated hate crimes were those targeting Muslim Canadians, with 229 reports in 2024, up slightly from 220 incidents in 2023 and 109 in 2022.
For Catholics, 61 hate crimes were reported in 2024, compared to 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.
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The findings come just over one month after the National Holocaust Memorial in Ottawa was defaced, leading to charges against a 46-year-old Ottawa man. The investigation was led by the Ottawa Police Service’s hate and bias crime unit.
“The latest police-crime statistics are shocking — in 2024, a Jewish Canadian was 25 times more likely to experience a hate crime than any other Canadian,” said Noah Shack, CEO at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, in an emailed statement.
“But numbers don’t paint the full picture. They reflect only a fraction of what Jewish Canadians experience every day. The daily reality is families wondering if it’s safe 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 focus 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 continue to be singled out for their faith, facing verbal abuse, physical attacks, and systemic discrimination across public and private spaces,” says board director Tabassum Wyne at the MACC in an emailed statement.
“This data confirms what we’ve long been raising: anti-Muslim hate in Canada is not only persistent, it’s growing and it’s putting lives at risk. Behind these numbers are people, families, living in fear. That cannot be the Canadian reality we accept.”
Although instances of antisemitism are not new in Canada, the recent spikes in reports of hate crimes targeting the Jewish community increased year-over-year by 82 per cent in 2023 compared to 2022, Statistics Canada data shows.
Late 2023 marked the start of a tense conflict in the Middle East stemming from the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The attack killed 1,200 people in Israel, with hundreds taken hostage.
The conflict has continued to escalate and remains ongoing, with attempts to reach a ceasefire repeatedly failing.
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