Archive/File: orgs/canadian/canada/justice/ethnocultural-groups/ecg-012-00
Last-Modified: 1997/01/29
Source: Department of Justice Canada

                                              CHAPTER TWELVE
                                           HATE CRIMES, HATE
                                   MATERIAL, AND HATE GROUPS
                                                             
12.0 INTRODUCTION

The Minority Advocacy Rights Council (MARC) study identifies
"hate crimes" as a key issue of concern to ethnocultural
groups in Canada.<293> Specifically, respondents to the
survey emphasized that hate crimes and other hate-motivated
acts profoundly disturb the sense of personal security of
members of minority groups. A hate-motivated crime or act is
not simply an individual event. Such crimes or acts impact
significantly on the way minorities integrate into the
society and the degree of social conflict between groups.
Canada's commitment to multiculturalism as an element of
public policy,<294> gives added importance to addressing
hate crimes and other hate-motivated activities.

As evident from the responses given in the MARC study,
however, ethnocultural groups in Canada see hate crimes as
including much more than those behaviours which are now
considered criminal offences. Provisions in Canada's
Criminal Code to combat hate propaganda<295> outlaw
advocating or promoting genocide as well as communications
that incite and or promote hatred.<296> The responses to the
study of the justice issues of concern to ethnocultural and
minority groups included not only hate propaganda but also
the existence and activities of hate groups as well as acts
of violence motivated by racism and/or hatred. As such, the
issue of hate crimes includes a concern with at least three
interrelated aspects of the problem of hatred: hate
materials, offensive behaviours motivated by hatred, and the
existence and activities of hate groups.

These concerns, and the fact that the problem encompasses
the three aspects of materials, behaviours, and groups, is
also reflected in media's coverage of hate crimes.

Many recent articles<297> show the public's perception of
the seriousness of the problem, and indicate that the three
aspects of materials, behaviours, and groups are not
distinct but inter-related aspects of the larger problem of
hate crimes. A sampling of these articles covers the
following topics:

     *  Minorities are shown as the targets of violence and
     there is a reference to the "current eruption of hate"
     in Canada and around the globe.<298>
     
     * A full-page story shows the existence and activities
     of hate groups in Canada -- the Aryan Nations, Heritage
     Front, the Klu Klux Klan, Canadian Liberty Net, and
     Church of the Creator are named and briefly
     described_and warns that "police, human rights
     activists and other observers are expressing alarm over
     the systematic pattern of activity by Canada's extreme
     right as it targets gays, Jews and visible
     minorities;"<299> and the ready and widespread
     availability, in most areas in Canada, of hate hot-
     lines (telephone services with pre-recorded hate
     messages which will also return calls if the caller
     leaves a name and telephone number) run by groups like
     Heritage Front, Canadian Liberty Net, and the Ku Klux
     Klan, and a wide variety of published materials
     produced by groups like the Church of the Creator which
     carry hate hot-line phone numbers, include lists of
     available materials, and contain messages such as:
     "White man! Rise and let them feel the weight of your
     boot upon their necks, let them cower before you. The
     faithful are urged to take action against Jews, Blacks
     and other mud races." 300
     
     * The recruitment of youths into the ranks of white-
     supremacist groups such as the Toronto-based group
     Heritage Front and the United States-based group Church
     of the Creator is discussed.<301>

     * Acts, including property and personal offences,
     against the Jewish
     
     Community are outlined and there is a call for a
     legislative response to the problem of hate crimes
     including the provision of sentencing guidelines and
     the collection of hate crime statistics.<302>
     
     * A story on the creation of a music company,
     Resistance Records, to produce and distribute hate
     music (bands creating music with titles such as Coon
     Hunt, Race Riot, and White Revolution) to spread hate
     messages and "attract a new generation of recruits."
     The record company has a Detroit address which, since
     "tapes are...easily shipped over the border and are
     rarely checked by customs agents...[which] allows the
     free flow of materials that, if produced here, would
     likely be banned under Canadian laws."<303>

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