KITCHENER -- A new report from Statistics Canada shows hate crimes reported to Waterloo regional police were at their lowest levels in 2019.
The report, which was presented at the Police Services Board meeting on Wednesday, showed there were 15 reported hate crimes in 2019, down from 39 in 2018 and 53 in 2017. There were an average of 31 hate crime incidents reported in the area between 2014 and 2019.
The report also said most hate crimes weren't violent in nature and around half were mischief offences.
According to police, hate crimes were motivated by race and ethnicity 60 per cent of the time in 2019, followed by 27 per cent for sexual orientation and 13 per cent for religion.
In 2019, the rate of hate crimes in Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo census metropolitan area (CMA) was 2.5 incidents per 100,000 people, well below the national average of 5.2 incidents per 100,000.
The Tri-Cities are ranked 25th nationally of 35 other CMAs in Canada and 12th in Ontario.
Police Chief Bryan Larkin noted Wednesday that the threshold of police-reported hate crime is difficult to meet. He encouraged victims and witnesses to report incidents to police, and said he wants to work with community initiatives addressing hate.
Officials are still looking at data for 2020.
