Richmond city council asked the RCMP to add fighting racism to its list of priorities this year.
The RCMP’s suggested work plan for 2022/23 included prioritizing property crime, organized crime, road safety and vulnerable persons, but Coun. Chak Au pointed out statistics show a rise in hate crimes and incidents in Richmond and suggested this be added as a priority.
Acting officer in charge, Supt. Julie Drotar, noted statistics from 2021 show 61 per cent of the 46 racially motivated hate crimes and incidents in Richmond were against Asians, 19 per cent were against Blacks and 13 per cent were against South Asians and Middle Easterners.
Hate incidents might seem less serious, Au said, “but in terms of the impact on the victims, perhaps it’s even stronger because there’s no way for them to seek legal redress.”
Hate incidents don’t meet the threshold of criminality under the Criminal Code of Canada, whereas hate crimes do. The RCMP separate these in their statistics, for example, in 2021, there were 25 hate incidents and 21 hate crimes in Richmond.
“However, the emotional impact, the psychological impact (of hate incidents) is as much as a hate crime,” Au said.
The three classifications of hate crimes and incidents are those against race, religion and sexual orientation, Drotar explained to city council, adding the five religious hate crimes/incidents Richmond RCMP were dealing with were all against the Jewish faith.
Council unanimously agreed to add fighting racism as a priority for the RCMP this year.
The RCMP work plan was on Monday's council agenda.
