Ottawa-Gatineau hate crime rate the highest per capita in 2024: StatCan
Posted Mar 30, 2026 12:49:48 PM.
Last Updated Mar 30, 2026 03:52:46 PM.
The Ottawa-Gatineau census metropolitan area has the highest police-reported hate crime rate per 100,000 people compared to all other major cities, data from Statistics Canada shows.
The report released says the number of police-reported hate crimes stayed steady in 2024 across the country, after sharp increases in prior years.
StatCan says there were 4,882 hate crimes in Canada in 2024, a one per cent increase over the previous year. That followed a 34 per cent rise between 2022 and 2023 and after the number of police-reported hate crimes more than doubled since 2018.
In Ottawa, this means the rate per 100,000 people spiked in 2023 at 30.9 per cent. In 2024 that dropped slightly to 27.7 per cent, similar to 2022’s rate.
This correlates to a decrease of 28 cases between 2024 and the year prior.
Toronto has a higher number of reported hate crimes than Ottawa, but because of the city’s large population, per 100,000 people, the rate is much lower than the nation’s capital at 20.1 per cent in 2024.
StatCan reports an eight per cent increase in incidents targeting race or ethnicity in 2024, and a 26 per cent drop in the number of cases targeting sexual orientation.
| Area | Hate crime cases in 2023 | Hate crime cases in 2024 | Hate crime rate in 2023* | Hate crime rate in 2024* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 4,828 | 4,882 | 12.1% | 11.9% |
| Ottawa | 384 | 356 | 30.9% | 27.7% |
| Toronto | 1,120 | 1,277 | 18.4% | 20.1% |
| Montréal | 486 | 506 | 10.8% | 10.9% |
| Vancouver | 490 | 462 | 16.4% | 14.9% |
Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver have larger populations than Ottawa. (Natasha O’Neill/CityNews)
The number of police-reported hate crimes targeting religion stayed relatively stable, following a 154 per cent increase between 2020 and 2023.
Seventy per cent of hate crimes targeting religion in 2024 were directed at Jewish populations. Seventeen per cent were directed at Muslim populations and the rest at other religions.
StatCan compared hate crime statistics between two three-year time periods — 2019 to 2021 and 2022 to 2024.
The agency said the “proportion of mischief-related hate crimes targeting religion declined” in the 2022-to-2024 period, while “hate crimes targeting religion became comparatively more violent.”
In the 2022-2024 time period, StatCan said, hate crimes were roughly eight times more likely to take place around educational institutions than other crimes.
“Also, as may be expected, hate crimes targeting religion were the most likely to occur near a religious institution, although this declined over time,” StatCan noted.
The Liberal government has introduced a new hate crimes bill that would create new Criminal Code offences and define “hatred” in criminal law for the first time.
It would also make it a criminal offence to wilfully promote hate through the use of hate symbols, and would define “hatred” in criminal law for the first time. The bill passed third reading in the House of Commons last week and is now in front of the Senate.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2026.
