The number of hate crimes reported by Halifax police in 2023 jumped by 62 per cent compared with the prior year.
Figures released last month by Statistics Canada show that Halifax police reported 121 hate crimes last year, more than 40 per cent of the total for the entire Atlantic region, at 300.
Halifax ranked fifth in the country for its hate crime rate, moving up from the eighth spot in 2022.
The country’s statistical agency says there were 23.3 police-reported hate crimes per 100,000 people in Halifax in 2023, up from a rate of 14.4 in 2022.
Canada-wide, hate crimes reported by police have been steadily increasing since 2019, and in 2023 there were 12 hate crimes per 100,000 people, up from 9.3 the previous year.
Warren Silver, an analyst with Statistics Canada, says the jump in numbers may not necessarily correlate to an increase in hatred, but to a rise in reporting.