Toronto/CMEDIA: There has been a sharp rise in hate crimes targeting religion, sexual orientation, and race in Canada since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data released this week by Statistic Canada.
In spite of being proud as a diverse and welcoming country for immigrants and refugees, Canada, has witnessed a 72 percent jump in its hate crime rate between 2019 and 2021, said Statistics Canada.
This increase was reportedly partly due to the exposure and exacerbated safety and discrimination issues during the pandemic with Chinese-Canadians reporting increased discrimination due to Wuhan, China being the epicenter of the virus.
The World Health Organization reportedly said in June that its latest investigation into the origins of COVID-19 was inconclusive largely due to the missing data from China.
In 2021, there had been an increase of 67 percent in hate-motivated crimes targeting religion, those targeting sexual orientation rose 64 percent and those targeting race or ethnicity rose 6 percent.
The federal government had been asked by the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice to pass an Anti-Racism Act to collect specific information on where the crime takes place and the circumstances under which it occurs to hold those responsible accountable.
The Canadian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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