Police-reported hate crime in Canada, 2024
Released: 2026-03-30
In 2024, police-reported hate crime in Canada was relatively stable following some sharp increases in previous years. Canadian police services reported 4,882 hate crimes in 2024, a slight rise (+1%) from 2023. This followed an increase of 34% from 2022 to 2023. Overall, the number of police-reported hate crimes has risen for six years in a row, more than doubling (+169%) since 2018.
When accounting for the size of the population, however, the rate of police-reported hate crime per 100,000 population declined by 2% in 2024. Specifically, the rate dropped from 12.1 incidents per 100,000 population in 2023 to 11.9 incidents in 2024. For comparison, the overall crime rate (excluding traffic offences) declined 4% during the same period. Despite the slight decline, the hate crime rate more than doubled (+142%) from 2018 to 2024, while the overall crime rate increased 3%.
The relative stability in the total number of police-reported hate crimes in 2024 was shaped by variation in motivation. There was a rise in incidents targeting race or ethnicity (+8%, up to 2,377 incidents), which was partially offset by fewer incidents targeting sexual orientation (-26%, down to 658 incidents). Hate crimes targeting religion were essentially stable, dropping by 3 incidents to 1,342 incidents.
Chart 1
Police-reported hate crimes, by type of motivation, Canada, 2014 to 2024
Understanding police-reported hate crime information
Police-reported hate crime information reflects only incidents that come to the attention of police and are subsequently classified as confirmed or suspected hate-motivated crimes. Reporting can be influenced by many factors, including world events, social movements, community awareness, and the expertise of local police. Victims' decisions to report may also be influenced—in terms of their likelihood to report a crime to police—by factors like language barriers, trust in police and the justice system, and fears of stigmatization or further victimization.
Police-reported data represent one dimension in hate crime analysis. Self-reported data provide additional insight: according to the most recent General Social Survey on Canadians' Safety (Victimization) from 2019, Canadians were the victims of over 223,000 criminal incidents that they perceived as being motivated by hate in the 12 months that preceded the survey. More than one in five (22%) of these incidents were reported to the police.
Available police-reported hate crime information
An interactive data visualization dashboard for police-reported hate crime statistics is available through the Police-reported Information Hub. The accompanying infographic, "Infographic: Police-reported hate crime in Canada, 2024," is also available.
For additional information on police-reported hate crime in Canada, see the data tables on hate crime motivation, violation type and geography.
For preliminary quarterly hate crime data for 2025, see the data table and the accompanying interactive data visualization dashboard "Preliminary quarterly hate and cybercrime data" through the Police-reported Information hub. This information is a complement to official police-reported hate crime data released annually.
This release and these products were made possible with funding support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Among the provinces in 2024, police-reported hate crime rates ranged from 5.3 incidents per 100,000 population in Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador, to 16.0 incidents in Ontario. In 2024, eight provinces recorded stable or declining rates, while Newfoundland and Labrador (+51%), despite recording the lowest rate overall, recorded an increase, as did Alberta (+3%). Given the relatively small number of hate crime incidents reported in Newfoundland and Labrador—19 in 2023, 29 in 2024—the change in rate is subject to higher variability.
Unlike overall police-reported crime (for which rates are typically higher in rural areas), police-reported hate crime rates were 2.5 times higher in larger cities than in smaller towns in 2024—13.9 incidents per 100,000 population in census metropolitan areas versus 5.5 incidents per 100,000 population in non-census metropolitan areas.
Chart 2
Police-reported hate crimes, by province, 2020 to 2024
Non-violent hate crime incidents increased 3% in 2024, driven by a rise in violations related to mischief (+5%, up to 2,165 incidents). In contrast, violent hate crime incidents were down slightly (-1%) due in part to declines in uttering threats and criminal harassment, and despite a combined 15% increase in common and major assaults.
In 2024, 55% of police-reported hate crimes were non-violent, largely reflecting the high proportion of general mischief and mischief in relation to property used primarily for worship or by an identifiable group. Together, these violations accounted for 80% of non-violent hate crimes and 44% of total hate crimes (non-violent and violent). Mischief-related violations represented 59% of hate crimes targeting religion, 45% of those targeting sexual orientation, and 39% of those targeting race or ethnicity.
Chart 3
Proportion of police-reported violent and non-violent hate crimes, by type of offence, Canada, 2024
Police-reported hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity increase for sixth straight year
From 2023 to 2024, hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity rose 8%, driven by incidents targeting Black populations (+6%, to 873 incidents), Arab and West Asian populations (+16%, to 310 incidents), and South Asian populations (+15%, to 321 incidents). Incidents targeting other racial or ethnic groups—for example, Latin American, South American, or a combination of groups—also increased (+23%, to 446 incidents). In contrast, hate crimes targeting East and Southeast Asian populations declined for the third consecutive year (-5%, to 185 incidents).
Hate crimes targeting Indigenous people (First Nations people, Métis and Inuit) declined 18% in 2024, dropping from 72 to 59 incidents.
Chart 4
Number of police-reported hate crimes motivated by race or ethnicity, Canada, 2020 to 2024
Police-reported hate crimes targeting sexual orientation declined following three consecutive years of increases
In 2024, hate crimes targeting sexual orientation declined 26% to 658 incidents, down from a peak of 889 incidents in 2023. The decline in 2024 followed a period of increases from 2020 to 2023, when hate crimes targeting sexual orientation more than tripled (+245%). Despite the decline in 2024, the number of crimes was higher than in any year prior to 2023.
In 2024, two in five (40%) of these crimes targeted gay and lesbian populations, continuing a downward trend from a peak of 94% in 2013. A growing proportion targeted people of another sexual orientation that is not heterosexual, such as asexual or pansexual individuals (43%), while incidents where the targeted sexual orientation was reported as unknown (15%) declined from 2023. The remainder targeted bisexual populations (1%) in 2024.
The month of June continued to show higher levels of hate crimes targeting sexual orientation, with 113 incidents reported in June 2024, about twice the monthly average (50 incidents) for the rest of the year. This pattern has appeared consistently since 2021, with June recording on average about three times as many incidents reported by police than in other months. The summer months coincide with the celebration of Pride Month and the beginning of Pride Season throughout Canada and the United States.
Police-reported hate crimes targeting gender identity or expression increase for fourth consecutive year
Hate crimes targeting gender identity or expression increased for the fourth consecutive year, up 8% from 2023 to 139 incidents in 2024. These crimes have nearly tripled (+184%) since 2020. Among incidents where the specific motivation was known, more than half (56 out of 98) targeted intersex individuals, transgender men or women, or agender or other non-binary gender identities or expressions.
Police-reported hate crimes targeting religion relatively stable in 2024, following two sharp increases in the previous three years
In 2024, police reported 1,342 hate crimes targeting religion, 3 fewer than in 2023. This marked a period of relative stability compared with the 154% rise from 2020 to 2023, during which time incidents increased from 530 to 1,345. In 2024, most police-reported hate crimes targeting religion were directed at Jewish (70%) and Muslim (17%) populations. The remainder were directed at other religions, for example Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu and Christian religions.
Chart 5
Number of police-reported hate crimes motivated by religion, Canada, 2020 to 2024
Monthly data showed a relatively higher number of police-reported hate crimes targeting Jewish and Muslim populations in October, November and, to a lesser extent, December of 2023. Compared to the average number of hate crimes reported monthly from January 2021 to September 2023, the monthly average for the last three months of 2023 was 251% higher for Jewish populations (159 monthly incidents versus 45 monthly incidents) and 185% higher for Muslim populations (32 monthly incidents versus 11 monthly incidents).
For the year 2024, the monthly average number of hate crimes targeting Jewish populations (77 monthly incidents in 2024) and Muslim populations (19 monthly incidents in 2024) declined from those recorded at the end of 2023. However, the monthly averages for 2024 were well above those recorded from January 2021 to September 2023 (+69% for Jewish populations and +68% for Muslim populations).
Selected characteristics of police-reported hate crime incidents, victims and accused persons over time, from 2019 to 2021 and from 2022 to 2024
The following analysis examines characteristics of police-reported hate crime incidents, victims and accused persons over time. It is based on two three-year cohorts—2019 to 2021 and 2022 to 2024—with a focus on hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. Together, these three motivation types accounted for more than 9 in 10 (93%) police-reported hate crimes from 2019 to 2024.
Additionally, for the most recent cohort (2022 to 2024), characteristics were compared between hate-motivated and non-hate-motivated crime (referred to here as "other crime") to examine features that may be more distinctive of hate crimes. For detailed information, refer to tables 8 and 9.
Despite the overall increase in police-reported hate crime from 2019 to 2024, the characteristics of these incidents were relatively consistent across cohorts. At the same time, there were some differences between hate crimes and other crimes in the most recent cohort, particularly in relation to the distribution of violations, clearance status and location of the incident, as well as in relation to victim gender and the relationship between victims and accused.
Incident characteristics: characteristics of hate-motivated crime shaped by mischief
Across both hate crime cohorts, less than half of police-reported hate crime incidents were violent, with 43.9% from 2019 to 2021 and 45.4% from 2022 to 2024. However, the other crimes category recorded a lower proportion of violent incidents, with 21% classified as violent from 2022 to 2024.
This difference reflects the general distribution of violations for hate crimes and other crimes. Many high-volume, non-violent violations (such as property theft or administration of justice violations) are unlikely to be classified as hate-motivated, resulting in a higher proportion of non-violent crimes in the other crimes category. The exception is mischief—such as graffiti and vandalism—which is also categorized as non-violent but accounts for nearly half of hate-motivated crime (43.8% of hate crimes from 2022 to 2024), compared to 13% of other crime.
Across both hate crime cohorts, mischief was more likely to be involved in hate crimes targeting religion (67.6% from 2019 to 2021 and 61.2% from 2022 to 2024) than those targeting race or ethnicity (37.2% and 37.7%, respectively) or sexual orientation (36.7% and 42.1%, respectively). However, the proportion of mischief-related hate crimes targeting religion declined in the 2022-to-2024 cohort, as hate crimes targeting religion became comparatively more violent. Between cohorts, violent hate crime targeting religion increased 116.3%, while non-violent hate crime targeting religion increased 57.2%.
In contrast, police-reported hate crimes targeting sexual orientation showed proportionately less violence over time (53.5% from 2019 to 2021 and 44.9% from 2022 to 2024). Between cohorts, violent hate crime targeting sexual orientation increased 79.6%, while non-violent hate crime targeting sexual orientation increased 153.5%.
Lower clearance rate for non-violent hate crimes driven by mischief
In the 2022-to-2024 cohort, violent hate crimes were cleared at rates similar to other violent crimes (47.1% versus 52.9%). "Cleared" refers to a suspect being charged or there having been sufficient evidence to recommend or lay a charge in a criminal incident. In contrast, non-violent hate crimes were cleared far less often than other non-violent crimes (13.8% versus 30.6%).
The comparatively low clearance rate for non-violent hate crimes was again influenced by the relatively high proportion of mischief-related hate crime incidents, which tend to be more difficult to solve due to challenges in identifying perpetrators. Mischief in general had a relatively low clearance rate for other crime (23.0% cleared) and was lower still for hate-motivated crime (10.5% cleared).
Cyber-related hate crime incidents remain relatively uncommon, but more frequent than for other crime
The proportion of hate crimes with a cyber component declined slightly between cohorts (7.0% from 2019 to 2021 and 5.9% from 2022 to 2024), but hate crimes were still about one and a half times more likely than other crimes to involve a cyber component in the 2022-to-2024 cohort (5.9% versus 3.7%).
Hate crimes more likely to occur in public places and near schools
Location patterns differed between hate crimes and other crimes. In the 2022-to-2024 cohort, hate crimes most commonly occurred in public places (37.9%), such as public transit, on the street or in open areas. In contrast, other crimes—particularly other violent crimes—were more likely to occur in private residences. About 4 in 10 (39.8%) other crimes occurred in private residences, compared with just over 2 in 10 (21.7%) hate crimes. For other violent crime, the proportion occurring in private rose to nearly 6 in 10 (57.8%), compared with close to one-quarter (23.6%) of hate crimes.
Hate crimes were about eight times more likely than other crimes to occur around educational institutions in the 2022-to-2024 cohort (12.7% of hate crimes versus 1.7% of other crimes). More specifically, between the two hate crime cohorts, hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity (7.9% from 2019 to 2021 and 10.8% from 2022 to 2024), religion (9.5% and 14.2%, respectively), and sexual orientation (14.1% and 17.1%, respectively) each recorded increased proportions of incidents located around educational institutions.
Across both hate crime cohorts, hate crimes targeting sexual orientation were the most likely to occur in a private residence (31.2% from 2019 to 2021 and 30.9% from 2022 to 2024), compared to hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity (22.5% and 20.0%, respectively) or religion (19.8% and 18.2%, respectively). Also, as may be expected, hate crimes targeting religion were the most likely to occur near a religious institution, although this declined over time (20.9% and 13.6%, respectively). Overall, hate crimes targeting religion accounted for 81% of hate crimes located around a religious institution.
Hate crime victims more likely to be men and boys, and victimized by a stranger
Across both hate crime cohorts, close to two-thirds of victims of violent hate crime incidents were men and boys (62.0% from 2019 to 2021 and 62.1% from 2022 to 2024). In contrast, less than half (47.4%) of victims of other violent crimes were men or boys. In police-reported hate crime data, victim records are collected for crimes against the person—"violent crime"—but not for property (non-violent) crimes.
More specifically, across the two hate crime cohorts, differences were observed between motivation types. Violent hate crimes targeting religion involved a comparatively lower proportion of victims who were men and boys (55.2% from 2019 to 2021 and 56.6% from 2022 to 2024), while those targeting sexual orientation involved a comparatively higher proportion of men and boys (71.8% and 72.7%, respectively).
Furthermore, the proportion of children and youth victims (aged 0 to 24, of which children aged 0 to 11 accounted for 10%) increased between hate crime cohorts (from 29.6% from 2019 to 2021, to 34.6% from 2022 to 2024). Hate crimes targeting religion involved the highest proportion of senior victims, or those aged 65 and older (6.3% from 2019 to 2021 and 5.7% from 2022 to 2024), while those targeting sexual orientation involved the highest proportion of child and youth victims (43.1% and 38.1%, respectively). Overall, from 2019 to 2024, the median age of victims of hate crimes targeting religion was 34 and it was 28 for those targeting sexual orientation.
While hate crimes and other crimes showed similar age distributions among victims, the relationship between the victim and the accused differed. Victims of hate crime were more than twice as likely to be victimized by a stranger (62.4% versus 26.0% for other crime), and nine times less likely to be victimized by a family member or intimate partner (4.5% versus 40.6% for other crime).
Among the selected hate crime motivation types in the 2022-to-2024 cohort, victims of hate crimes targeting sexual orientation (44.5% of victims) were more likely to know the accused, compared with hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity, or religion (35.2% of victims for both motivation types).
Persons accused in hate crime incidents more likely to be men and boys, and younger
Persons accused in hate crime incidents were more likely to be men and boys than those accused in other crimes (82.3% versus 74.3%), although accused persons were predominantly men and boys in both groups. Accused persons in hate crime incidents were also younger overall. In the 2022-to-2024 cohort, 35.1% of accused persons in hate crimes were youth (aged 12 to 24), compared with 22.6% for other crimes.
Across hate crime cohorts, the proportion of youth accused increased from 28.7% from 2019 to 2021, to 35.1% from 2022 to 2024. An increase was evident for hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity (from 23.4% to 30.5%) and religion (from 22.6% to 35.0%). In contrast, the proportion of youth accused in hate crimes targeting sexual orientation declined slightly over time (53.0% to 49.9%), though youth continued to account for about half of accused persons for this motivation type, and was higher than the other two motivations.
The proportion of women and girls accused in police-reported hate crimes increased between cohorts, rising from 14.2% from 2019 to 2021, to 17.7% from 2022 to 2024. Similarly, increases were noted for the three types of hate crime examined.
Note to readers
Collecting police-reported hate crime information
Police-reported hate crime data are drawn from the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey, a census of all criminal incidents known to police services in Canada. For more information on the UCR Survey, key terminology and definitions, see Police-reported crime statistics in Canada, 2021.
Definition of a hate crime: a criminal offence targeting the integral or visible parts of a person's or community's identity. A hate crime may be carried out against people or property and is motivated in whole or in part by bias, prejudice or hate based on race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, language, sex, age, mental or physical disability, or any other similar factor.
Additionally, there are five specific offences listed as hate propaganda or hate crimes in the Criminal Code of Canada: advocating or promoting genocide against an identifiable group; inciting hatred against an identifiable group in a public place that is likely to cause a breach of the peace; wilful promotion of hatred against an identifiable group; wilful promotion of antisemitism by denying, condoning or downplaying the Holocaust; and mischief motivated by hate based on various factors in relation to certain property used primarily for worship or by an identifiable group.
Police data on hate crimes reflect only incidents that come to the attention of police and are classified as hate crimes. Police determine whether a crime was motivated by hatred. They indicate the type of motivation based on information gathered during the investigation and use common national guidelines for record classification. Hate crime counts include both confirmed and suspected hate crime incidents. Like other types of crime, counts of police-reported hate crime can be impacted by major social events, policing initiatives or awareness campaigns. Additionally, reporting may also be influenced by language barriers, issues of trust or confidence in the police, or fear of further victimization or stigma. For example, see Text box 1 and Text box 5 in "Police-reported hate crime in Canada, 2020." In this release, police-reported data on hate crimes reflect the primary hate crime motivation in a criminal incident, as determined through police investigation. To better understand the complex nature of hate crimes and to allow for increased analysis of intersectionality, existing hate crime motivation categories have been expanded and a secondary motivation category has been added to the UCR Survey. These changes were undertaken following extensive consultation with hate crime subject-matter experts and were made available for reporting purposes in October 2021. It can take a period of time for these data to be collected and disseminated, in part due to privacy and confidentiality concerns.
Where possible, police-reported crime information should be interpreted in a broader community context. For additional contextual information within and outside the criminal justice system, see the following resources: Crime and justice statistics; Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population; Centre for Municipal and Local Data; and Rural Canada statistics.
Preliminary police-reported hate crime data for the first three quarters of 2025
Preliminary results indicate that 3,509 hate crimes were reported by police in the first three quarters of 2025. For context, this is a decline compared to the number of hate crimes (3,782) reported in the official annual statistics over the same period in 2024.
For more information, see the preliminary quarterly hate crime data table.
Ongoing preliminary quarterly data on police-reported hate crime are available throughout the year, with data for the fourth quarter of 2025 available in April 2026 and data for the first quarter of 2026 available in July 2026.
Official annual police-reported hate crime data for 2025 will be released alongside other police-reported crime data in summer 2026.
Identifying populations targeted in police-reported hate crimes
In this release, data on hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity are measured with the hate crime detailed motivation variable in the UCR Survey. The reporting categories are informed by the Employment Equity Act and may be grouped to simplify data collection and reporting and to ensure confidentiality when disseminating results. Therefore, the groupings in the race or ethnicity category, as it pertains to police-reported hate crimes, may differ from the more general definition of "visible minority" groups, below.
"Visible minority" refers to whether a person belongs to one of the visible minority groups defined by the Employment Equity Act. The Employment Equity Act defines visible minorities as "persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour." The visible minority population consists mainly of the following groups: South Asian, Chinese, Black, Filipino, Latin American, Arab, Southeast Asian, West Asian, Korean and Japanese.
In this release, the term "Indigenous" is used to refer to individuals identifying themselves, or who have been identified as, "First Nations people, Métis or Inuit." In the context of police-reported hate crime data, it is not currently possible to further disaggregate the category. Due to the historical and intergenerational trauma resulting from colonialism and related policies, as well as individual and systemic racism, many Indigenous people face deeply rooted social and economic challenges, including higher rates of criminal victimization, discrimination, representation in the criminal justice system, and lower levels of confidence in the police and other institutions. These and other factors can impact whether a hate crime comes to the attention of the police. For more information and context on victimization among Indigenous people, see for example, the following sources: "Reclaiming power and place: The Final Report on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls;" and "Honouring the truth, reconciling for the future: Summary of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada." See also: "Violent victimization and perceptions of safety: Experiences of First Nations, Métis and Inuit women in Canada;" and "Victimization of First Nations people, Métis and Inuit in Canada."
In this release, data on police-reported hate crimes targeting sexual orientation are collected based on the following detailed motivation categories: bisexual, heterosexual, gay and lesbian, the 2SLGBTQ+ community, asexual, pansexual and another sexual orientation that is not heterosexual. Prior to October 2021, hate crimes targeting sex or gender were collected based on detailed motivation categories for: male, female, and other sex or gender (including transgender, agender, intersex). With the expansion of UCR hate crime motivation categories as of October 2021, the gender category includes: man or woman, transgender man or woman, transgender target not specified, and non-binary. It is possible that these categories could be disaggregated with future releases.
The option for police to code victims as "non-binary" in the UCR Survey was implemented in 2018. In the context of the UCR Survey, "non-binary" refers to a person who publicly expresses as neither exclusively man nor exclusively woman. Given that small counts of victims identified as gender diverse may exist, the UCR Survey data available to the public have been recoded with these victims distributed in the "men and boys" or "women and girls" categories based on the regional distribution of victims' gender. This recoding ensures the protection of the confidentiality and privacy of victims.
2025 General Social Survey (GSS) on Canadians' Safety
The main objective of the GSS on Canadians' Safety is to better understand how Canadians perceive crime and the justice system and to capture information on their experiences of victimization.
Historically, information on self-reported victimization was collected every five years. Starting in 2025, the GSS on Canadians' Safety will run every three years for more timely data. This initiative is funded by the Canada Action Plan on Combatting Hate.
Products
An interactive data visualization dashboard, Police-reported Information Hub: Hate crime in Canada, is now available through the Police-reported Information Hub as part of the publication Statistics Canada – Data Visualization Products (71-607-X).
The infographic "Infographic: Police-reported hate crime in Canada, 2024," which is part of the series Statistics Canada — Infographics (11-627-M), is now available.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
- Date modified: