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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, M ar ch 17 ,2 02 2 | 18 tnaregirfer A014R yldneirf yllatnemnorivnE noitarepo suounitnoc rof swolla erutaef niard tceriD erutarepmet tneibma ni gnirotcaf yb ytidimuh moor lortnoc yllacitamotua lliw tinU :yfidimuheD tramS .tf .qs 005,1 ot pu secaps ni ytidimuh slortnoC !erom dna sroofl ,sllaw ,erutinruf ruoy gnitcetorp elihw wedlim & dlom tneverP ytidimuH gnigamaD morf esuoH ruoY tcetorP 7491 ECNIS moc.ybnaD ta refiidimuhed a fo stfieneb eht tuoba erom nraeL EM-BDWJB020RDD - NWOHS LEDOM The region saw an in- crease in hate crimes last year with 31 incidents in 2021 compared to 18 report- ed in 2020. A report presented to the Halton Police Board on Thursday, Feb. 24 noted Oakville had the largest number of hate crimes at 18, followed by Milton with six, Burlington with four and Halton Hills with three. There were also several suspected hate crimes re- ported in 2021 with six tak- ing place in Oakville and seven occurring in Bur- lington. Halton Police Chief Ste- ven Tanner said 25 of the 2021 hate crimes involved property damage/vandal- ism with hate-related slurs or symbols being spray painted or scratched on public and private property. Other incidents report- ed in Halton involved Pride flags and 'Hate Has No Home Here' signs being stolen from people's front lawns. "Hate crimes I think have been impacted to a degree by COVID. People have been put into differ- ent frames of mind and dif- ferent situations by this. I am hopeful the world starts to even out a little bit in the months and year ahead," said Tanner. "I think our investiga- tive work is key to high- lighting that you can't just do these things and get away with them." Tanner said there were also 20 hate/bias incidents reported in Halton in 2021 that did not rise to the lev- el where a criminal charge could be laid. He said examples of these occurrences includ- ed racial and ethnic rheto- ric being communicated through social media or in conflict situations. There were actually fewer of these incidents in 2021 with 33 reported in 2020. When asked by board member Navneet Sekhon about the increase in Oak- ville's hate crime numbers Tanner pointed out that the figures can sometimes be misleading if one or two people are responsible for a large number of inci- dents. "I think it was two young males who stole nine or 10 Pride flags from different properties," he said. Tanner also said that recent campaigns by Hal- ton police have encour- aged residents to come for- ward and report hate crimes. A rise in reported inci- dents could be an indica- tion of that campaign's success, he noted. The report said that of the 64 hate-related occur- rences reported in 2021 the ensuing investigation led to perpetrators being identified in 21 of them. Tanner said these crimes can be difficult to investigate because there are often no witnesses and the incidents are random in nature. He also pointed out that hate-related incidents in Halton appear to be com- mitted by individuals and not by organized groups. The report said police are attempting to combat hate through presenta- tions at schools and else- where in the community and by conducting proac- tive patrols of places of worship and other facili- ties when something hap- pens globally that might result in local residents being targeted. Sekhon noted that de- spite these efforts there was very little change in the total number of hate- related occurrences in Halton with 64 reported in 2021 compared to 66 re- ported in 2020. "It's important that the community feels safe and that when someone moves into Halton, they feel wel- comed. Hate crimes or slurs or any of these occur- rences will diminish that type of safety people feel," said Sekhon. "I can tell you that I have just moved into Oak- ville and have not felt real- ly welcome." The board member said she would like to see real penalties for those respon- sible for these crimes. Tanner said that re- sponsibility lies with the courts but noted he would begin looking into the pos- sibility of certain hate in- cidents that can't be la- belled criminal offences being labelled provincial offences. The chief said he would speak with the Ministry of the Solicitor General in the near future about this matter. HATE CRIMES ON THE RISE IN HALTON DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com NEWS POLICE CHIEF STEPHEN TANNER