Chinese, Black, LGBTQ most targeted in Richmond hate crimes, incidents: RCMP

The majority of hate crimes and incidents reported to Richmond RCMP in 2022 were against Chinese, Black and LGBTQ people.

This included racist graffiti and derogatory comments, RCMP explained in a report going to next week’s community safety committee.

Statistics released by the Richmond RCMP show there were 34 incidents – eight hate crimes and 24 hate incidents – in Richmond last year.

Nine were targeted at Chinese people, seven at Black people and five at LGBTQ people.

There were also five police hate files that were identified as having multiple biases.

While there were two more that were considered anti-Asian, not specifying the country, there were also single incidents targeting Russian, Middle Eastern, Sikh, Jewish and Indigenous people as well as one incident targeting immigrants in general.

In 2021, there were 45 hate crimes or incidents reported to police, and this year’s numbers show at 24-per-cent decrease.

Of the 45, 21 were classified as hate crimes and 24 as hate incidents.

For something to be classified a hate crime, it has to meet the threshold of being a criminal offence targeting an identifiable group.

While a hate incident may be “motivated by the same factors,” it doesn’t meet that threshold, RCMP explained in their report to the committee.