inquiry into hate

Inquiry into hate during the Covid-19 pandemic finds hate incidents increased dramatically

Mar 7, 2023 | 3:26 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — The office of the BC Human Rights Commissioner has released its report after conducting an inquiry looking into hate during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The evidence was stark, among the findings, was that hate incidents have increased dramatically during the pandemic. Incidents ranged from hateful comments, slurs, threats of violence, people having garbage thrown at them to violent assaults.

Statistics for Northern BC, show that only 2% of hate incidents occurred in the Nechako and Northeast regions, as opposed to 57 percent in Metro Vancouver, the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley and Southeast. 75 percent said that they either experience, were affected by or witnessed hateful comments made in public, and 14 percent experienced, witnessed or were affected by abuse of power by the police or someone in authority.

Some comments reported to the commissioner say that “they have lived in BC for 54 years and have never experienced hate like this and that they never thought they would feel unsafe their own home/community.

While the numbers for the number of hate incidents for the north is low, the commissioner reminded that any number north of 0 is still not good, and that everyone needs to work together to eliminate these incidents from our communities.