Jews the target of 40% of total hate crimes last year: Toronto police
New data released this week by the Toronto Police Service shows that reported hate crimes in the city rose 19 per cent in 2024 over the previous year. It also found that the Jewish community, while representing less than four per cent of Toronto’s population, was the target of 40 per cent of reported incidents.
“We are the leading target of hate motivated crimes by a very very large margin,” Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, senior director of policy and advocacy at the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) , told National Post. “And that’s in absolute numbers. In per capita it becomes even more shocking because we are actually a very small part of the population.”
The 443 hate crimes reported to police in 2024 represents the third year in a row that numbers have increased, up from 372 reports the previous year, and 246 in 2023. Numbers had remained relatively flat from 2014 through 2019, with about 140 reports per year, before starting to rise.
Almost half (46 per cent) of reported hate crimes were linked to religion, with a further 24 per cent based on race, and the remainder divided among sexual orientation (14 per cent), ethnicity (12 per cent) and gender identity (4 per cent).
Police figures show that hate crimes against Jews made up the largest single group, with 177 reported incidents in 2024. This compared to 79 incidents related to sexual orientation, and 76 aimed at the Black community. Hate crimes against Muslims were down slightly from the previous years (28 compared to 33), while those against Asians had risen to 56 from 31 in the previous year.
“The report is confirming what the entire Jewish community already knows, which is that hate incidents targeting our community are increasing dramatically,” Kirzner-Roberts said. “If it hasn’t happened to us we know somebody that it has happened to.”
“Mischief occurrences” made up most of the hate crimes levelled at Jews, with 148 reported incidents, and anti-Jewish mischief related hate crimes made up a third of all hate crimes in 2024. Other types of hate crimes, including assault, uttering threats and criminal harassment, were more likely to be reported in connection with sexual orientation.
Despite its innocuous name, “mischief” covers graffiti and vandalism, and can include carving or spray-painting neo-Nazi imagery on a building or cemetery. “Many offences are committed without a victim present, few or no witnesses, and little forensic or digital evidence,” the police report notes, adding: “This is particularly true of mischief offences.”
This would explain why, while charges for hate crimes were up 81 per cent in 2024 to 115, the vast majority of those charges were for assaults and threats, with only 10 linked to mischief offences.
Kirzner-Roberts said the problem of low rates of arrests and charges goes beyond mischief offences and beyond Toronto’s borders.
“At the federal level, hate crimes are one of the least likely reported crimes to lead to charges, and among the least likely crimes for police to be able to identify the suspect. This is another piece of where the system is failing.”
She added: “It is illegal to disguise oneself by wearing a mask while commuting a crime, but police have been hesitant to lay these kind of charges in the post-COVID era. This law needs to be strengthened, clarified and enforced. If one is involved in political activities on the street then one needs to be accountable and identifiable for that. We would like to see courage in our political leadership to make that case clearly.”
The highest number of hate crimes reported were in 52 division (67 crimes) and 32 division (78). The first of those regions is bordered by Bayview, Steeles, Lawrence and Caledonia, and is home to a high concentration of Toronto’s Jewish population. The second runs between Yonge and Spadina, from Bloor to the lake, and includes the Toronto Islands.
“The police have been a fantastic partner to the Jewish community over the last 18 months where we’ve seen this horrific escalation,” Kirzner-Roberts said. “They continue to show in every way their dedication to protecting Toronto’s Jewish community and deterring hate-motivated crimes.”
She added: “It’s not the police that need to make changes, it’s lawmakers that need to make changes. I’m hoping that these statistics will be a wakeup call to our leaders at the municipal level, at the provincial level and the federal level to finally put this issue on the priority list.”
The FSWC is working with Toronto Police on the development of a mandatory training module that educates service members on Judaism and antisemitism, the impact of antisemitism on the Jewish community, and the importance of allyship.
It is also advocating for education on antisemitism to be prioritized across sectors where such hate is surging, particularly with the Toronto Transit Commission and its special constables. The police report noted an increase of hate motivated occurrences on public transit in 2024, with an 88 per cent increase to 95 occurrences in 2024 from 50 the previous year. Mischief-related occurrences on transit more than doubled, and assaults increased by almost a third.
The report will be formally released at a pubic meeting on May 14. It will be livestreamed at youtube.com/live/zcBoknNUpjs .
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