Tougher legislation needed on hate crimes

from Kristopher Wells and Murray Billett's article in the Edmonton Journal:

....Here in Canada, the gravity of hate crimes was officially recognized in 1970, when the government amended the Criminal Code to include hate propaganda as a punishable offence.
In 1996, the government also introduced enhanced sentencing provisions for offences motivated by hate, and in 2001 included mischief to religious property as a specific hate-motivated offence.

Despite this evolution, we argue that these legislative responses to hate have not gone far enough. The problem most concerning to many diverse communities and law enforcement officials involves the fact that there are still no direct provisions in the Criminal Code to identify hate crime as a violent offence (such as assault) or as a crime against a person or individual property (such as vandalism).

May 21, 2010 Country:Canada, Government, Legislation, Region: North America and Caribbean, Case:Hate Crime

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