Denouncing Canadian Currents of White Supremacist Violence and Hate In Charlottesville, VA
Falconers LLP lawyer, Anthony Morgan, provided comments to CBC News on the waves of white supremacist violence that have recently swept through Charlottesville, Virginia, and provided analysis on its relevance to Canada.
Morgan stated, “we’re not entirely immune,” citing events like January’s shooting rampage at a Quebec City mosque that killed six men and injured 19 others. “Canada is not that far removed. If we’re really going to address [expressions of hate], we have to admit that we have these issues.”
These comments come as news of a “nationalist rally” purportedly set to take place in September of 2017, on the University of Toronto’s downtown campus has spread online. This news quickly prompted outcries on social media on Monday, August 14, 2017. The University quickly responded by releasing a statement saying that no such event is being hosted there.
In June 2017, Statistics Canada released its latest report on police-reported hate crimes, showing that between 2014 and 2015, the number of police-reported crimes motivated by hatred of a race or ethnicity increased 5%. The report also noted that although down in 2015, crimes targeting Black populations remained the most common type of hate crime related to race or ethnicity (17% of all hate crimes). The June 2017 report also revealed that police-reported crimes motivated by hate against the Muslim population rose 61% between 2014 and 2015. Finally, the report indicated that Indigenous people are injured by hate crimes at the second highest rate of any people in Canada. Indigenous people are reported to be injured in 41% of hate crimes targeting this group.
Click here to watch Anthony Morgan on CBC 29 minute mark
In the News
U of T says no ‘nationalist rally’ to be hosted on campus, not ruling out possibility CBC, August 15, 2017
Chaos in Virginia as white supremacist rally takes deadly turn Toronto Star, August 15, 2017
Police-reported hate crime in Canada, 2015 Statistics Canada