Hate crimes, real and fake.

Toronto -- The May edition of Catholic Insight high-lighted several anti-Semitic incidents in the Greater Toronto area in March 2004 (News in Brief, p. 30). Now the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics has released a report on numbers of "hate crimes" reported to police in 2001. 928 haterelated offences were reported, 57% of which were motivated by race or ethnicity, 43% by religion and 9% by sexual orientation (yes, it adds up to 109%, but some categories overlapped!) One quarter of the incidents were anti-Jewish, making them the largest single group to be involved. Charges were eventually laid in less than 50% of the cases (Metro, June 2, 2004).

Meantime in the Vaughan area just north of Toronto, businessman Syzad Ally has been arrested and charged with arson and fraud following the destruction of his factory on March 28. There was a fire and explosion at the factory, and swastikas had been spray-painted on the doors, leading to concerns about a hate crime.

In neighbouring Richmond Hill, not a primarily Jewish area, six 15- and 16-year-olds have been charged with breaking and entering and mischief. This follows a rash of spray-painting and vandalism in an area whose residents wondered why they had been targeted (Thornhill Liberal, May 30, 2004).