{"id":4107,"date":"2018-03-05T19:55:49","date_gmt":"2018-03-05T19:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/?p=4107"},"modified":"2018-03-13T18:03:21","modified_gmt":"2018-03-13T18:03:21","slug":"are-hate-crimes-an-issue-in-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/?p=4107","title":{"rendered":"Are hate crimes an issue in Canada?"},"content":{"rendered":"H<\/span>ate crimes perpetrated against visible religious minorities are being questioned for their authenticity in wake of the recent \u201chijab hoax.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hira\u00a0Zulfiqar, fourth-year justice studies student at the University of Guelph-Humber,\u00a0hopes that\u00a0raising awareness on the issue of hate crimes will put things into perspective for students.<\/p>\n

In January,\u00a0she\u00a0organized GH Against Hate, an event to combat the presence of hate crimes\u00a0against Muslim women along\u00a0with her professor\u00a0Ron Stansfield.<\/p>\n

Zulfiqar said that\u00a0some\u00a0students\u00a0expressed their concerns about the motive behind\u00a0the event.\u00a0\u201cWith every single crime, there is always that question of \u2018did this really happen?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because one fake story was made, doesn\u2019t take away from the visible religious minorities who do experience hate crimes,\u201d said Zulfiqar.<\/p>\n

Some researchers have said that the issue of hate crimes is greater than it may seem because many times it goes unreported.<\/p>\n

Barbara Perry, author of books on hate crimes and\u00a0associate dean of social science and humanities at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology\u00a0said that data on hate crimes is inaccurate and \u201cgreatly flawed because they are rarely reported.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perry said,\u00a0\u201cwhat we\u2019ve seen in the past year is that the Jewish community and Muslim community are especially targeted not only by unorganized hate crimes on the street but also targeted by the far-right wing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zulfiqar held GH Against Hate to show support for Muslim women and mark the one-year anniversary of the attack on the\u00a0Qu\u00e9bec\u00a0Mosque.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s through knowledge and giving people information that you can challenge\u00a0ignorance,\u201d\u00a0said Zulfiqar.<\/p>\n

\"Hira

TORONTO\u2014 Jan. 30, 2018\u2014 From left, Ron Stansfield, Hira Zulfiqar and Glenn Barenthin at GH Against Hate (Photo by\u00a0Zahra Farahmand Photography)<\/p><\/div>\n

Gary Ellis, justice studies program head and former Toronto police superintendent, said that hate crimes committed against visible religious should not be ignored. \u201cThis is a large issue\u2026any one incident of hate is a big issue,\u201d said Ellis.<\/p>\n

He added that hate crimes against visible religious minorities do exist and the numbers are present, \u201cbut as a percentage I believe they\u2019re down.\u201d<\/p>\n

He agreed with Perry that the reason is because hate crimes against visible religious minorities are especially underreported.<\/p>\n

Ellis said sometimes new immigrants have a lack of trust in police. \u201cThey have their own paradigm from the countries where they came from on who the police are and what they believe in,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Ellis, who also studies law enforcement, said that all\u00a0claims should\u00a0be taken\u00a0seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe odd case of a falsely reported hate crime should not drive the agenda as to how these things are investigated,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Ellis.<\/p>\n

As a part of\u00a0the International Network for Hate Studies,\u00a0Perry\u00a0also works for hate crime prevention and said more\u00a0political leaders need to\u00a0take a stance in\u00a0\u201cacknowledging and speaking out against hatred\u2026we need more\u00a0education on our inclusive values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellis agreed that \u201cthese hate crimes are just another form of bullying and we have to stand-up to bullying.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the best way to diminish hate crimes is to expose them. \u201cTo say it\u2019s not happening is not exposing it we need to acknowledge that there is a problem,\u201d said Ellis.<\/p>\n

As for the university event, Zulfiqar said that in the coming years they are hoping to extend the school\u2019s campaign to more visible religious minorities such as Sikhs and Jews.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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