Transcript Hate crimesx

Hate Crimes
Understanding Hate/Bias Crimes and Incidents
Racism
 is the system of beliefs or ideology that
assumes there is a link between inherited
physical traits and social or psychological
(including personality and intellectual)
traits. In common usage, racism is used
synonymously with discrimination or
prejudice, but a more specific definition
notes the importance of power in racism. It
is discrimination backed by institutional
power.
Discrimination
 is the conscious or unconscious act of
treating a person or group on the basis of
prejudiced attitudes and beliefs rather than
on the basis of individual merit. This is not
an attitude but an act of behaviour which
may take the form of verbal abuse, graffiti,
jokes, slurs and physical assault.
Systemic Discrimination
 Social and organizational structures,
including policy and practices, which
intentionally or unintentionally exclude,
limit and/or discriminate against
individuals not part of the traditional
dominant group. Often used synonymously
with racism.
What is a hate crime?
 A crime motivated by hate, not
vulnerability, where the offence was
motivated by bias, prejudice or hate based
on race, national or ethnic origin, language,
colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical
disability, sexual orientation, or any other
similar factor.
(Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police)
What is a hate crime?
 Hate crime is a criminal violation
motivated by hate, based on race, national
or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion,
sex, age, mental or physical disability,
sexual orientation or any other similar
factor

(Canadian Center of Justice Statistics)
What is a hate crime?
 All hate crimes are acts of discrimination,
but not all acts of discrimination are
considered criminal acts, e.g., racial slurs,
jokes, etc.
 Racism can underlie a hate crime, but hate
crimes can be enacted by those who
discriminate beyond race and include other
vulnerable target groups.
Hate Speech/Literature
 Advocating genocide – any act committed with intent to destroy
in whole or in part any identifiable group namely by killing members
of the group or by deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of
life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.
 Public incitement of hatred – anyone who, by communicating
statements in public place, incites hatred against any identifiable
group or such incitement is likely to lead to a breach of the peace.
 Willful promotion of hatred – anyone who, by communicating
statements, other than in private conversation, willfully promotes
hatred against any identifiable group
Shaping Hate Legislation
in Canada
 Bill Whatcott was charged with promoting hate
after he distributed flyers in Regina and Saskatoon
in 2001 and 2002 that condemned gay sex as
immoral.
 John Ross Taylor, a self-described fascist, was jailed
in Ontario in the 1980s for telephone hate messages.
 James Keegstra had been teaching anti-Semitism to
students in Eckville, Alta., for 14 years when a
parent complained to the local school board about
his lessons. It was 1982 and Keegstra was also
Eckville's mayor.
Shaping Hate Legislation
in Canada
 David Ahenakew, a once-powerful leader of the
Assembly of First Nations, was stripped of his
Order of Canada for remarks about Jews in 2002.
During a speech at a gathering of First Nations
leaders in Saskatoon, Ahenakew made anti-Semitic
remarks. He repeated those comments to a reporter.
 Two children were permanently removed from their
Winnipeg home in 2008 after one, a seven-year-old
girl, showed up at her elementary school with racist
writings and symbols on her skin.
Shaping Hate Legislation
in Canada
 On Feb. 21, 2010, a wooden cross was set aflame on
the front lawn of an interracial couple and their
children in Poplar Grove, N.S. Brothers Nathan and
Justin Rehberg were convicted of public incitement
of hatred, as well as criminal harassment.
Free Speech – Hate Speech
 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, says:
"Everyone has the right to opinions without
interference and to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers."
 Free speech is protected in Canada under the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but the
right is not absolute.
 It is also a "discriminatory practice" to send hate
messages via telecommunications equipment,
including the internet.