Hate crime vs Terrorism

Download the Infographic - Hate crime vs Terrorism, 1.63 MB

Hate crimes have been on the rise in recent years, fueling widespread concern about their impact on individuals, communities and social standards. These offenses, which often target individuals or groups based on race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics, are distinct from acts of terrorism, even though they may share similar elements of violence and intimidation.

While hate crimes are motivated by prejudice and aim to harm specific groups or individuals, terrorism typically seeks to achieve broader political, ideological, or religious goals by instilling fear in a larger population.

Understanding the legal or Criminal Code distinction between hate crime and terrorism is essential to ensure that law enforcement and the judicial system can appropriately classify, investigate, and prosecute offences based on there specific motivations and community impacts.

In addition, by appropriately classifying these types of crimes the RCMP and law enforcement are in a better position to provide appropriate victim support, provide targeted prevention strategies and provide public awareness about the unique societal harms posed by each type of crime.

There are three offences in the Criminal Code of Canada that specifically pertain to hate crime, and they fall under the hate-propaganda section:

  • Section 318
    Advocating Genocide
  • Section 319(1)
    Public Incitement of Hatred
  • Section 319(2)
    Wilful Promotion of Hatred

Besides these offences, there are many other offences the public often refer to as hate crimes, however police refer to these as hate motivated crimes.

For example, for an assault charge under the Criminal Code:

  1. A person is charged with assault
  2. That person is convicted of assault
  3. It is noted in the charge/sentencing record that the assault was hate motivated
  4. It is proven in court that the assault was hate motivated
  5. The judge considers motivation in sentencing

If a crime is proven to be motivated by hate – it is taken into consideration at sentencing and noted on the record.

When does a hate crime become a Terrorism offence?

  • Section 83.01
    Terrorism

When the criminal act meets the definition of Terrorism Activity as listed under Section 83.01 of the Criminal Code, it can be investigated to determine if it qualifies as terrorism.

The criminal act must be committed in whole or in part for an ideological political or religious objective and with the intention of intimidating the public or a segment of the population, with regards to its security.

Section 83.27 CCC specifies that ANY indictable offence, if meeting the definition of terrorist activity, can be escalated to a terrorism offence with the penalty set at life in prison.

For example, if a person creates a propaganda poster advocating for genocide of a particular group of people, and disseminates this propaganda, this alone could be a hate crime.

If this criminal act was done on behalf of one of the listed terrorist entities as published by Public Safety Canada, then this would meet the definition of Terrorist Activity and the person could be charged with a terrorism offence.

The RCMP categorizes terrorist groups into 3 areas

  1. Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremist
  2. Politically Motivated Violent Extremist
  3. Religiously Motivated Violent Extremist
Date modified: