Hate Activity Part 1

Hate Activity Policy

• The purpose of the Hate Activity policy is to identify and respond to hate-motivated crimes and incidents, aiming to establish a hate-free City of Toronto.
• The policy is consistent with the Ontario Human Rights Code, the Criminal Code of Canada, and other relevant legislation.

Goals and Objectives

• The City of Toronto aims to eliminate hate activity by ensuring a hate-free environment for all employees, staff, and service recipients.
• The City facilitates combined efforts among various sectors to respond to hate, including staff, police, community groups, elected officials, and other levels of government.
• The City publicly condemns the actions of hate groups and racist organizations.

Application and Scope

• The policy applies to all City of Toronto employees, volunteers, Accountability Officers, elected officials, and their staff.
• Applicable Agencies and Corporations are required to have policies consistent with this Policy.
• Citizens, members of the public, service recipients, and visitors to City facilities are expected to adhere to the policy's intent.

Background Information

• Acts of hate are committed to intimidate, harm, or terrify victims based on their identity or group affiliation.
• The most frequently reported motivation factors for hate crimes are religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, expression, and race.
• The Hate Crimes Unit reports that the Jewish community, 2SLGBTQ+ community, Black community, and Muslim community are the most targeted groups.

Interpretation and Definition

• Hate activities involve intimidation, harassment, physical force, or threat of physical force against a person, group, or property motivated by hatred, bias, or prejudice.
• Hate activities can take many forms, including acts of violence, verbal slurs, vandalism, sexual assaults, intimidation, and harassment.
• Hate activity could take the form of:
  • acts of violence
  • verbal slurs accompanied by a threat
  • vandalism of ethnic, religious, lesbian or gay, minority sites
  • sexual assaults
  • intimidation and harassment
  • bomb threats
  • Public messages implying that members of an identifiable group are to be despised, scorned, denied respect and made subject to ill-treatment on the basis of group affiliation. Such messages may include group symbols, slogans or epithets and can be transmitted in many ways (e.g. graffiti, posters, flyers, hate mail, music lyrics, over the telephone, website and e-mail content, etc.)

Public Facilities and Use

• Public space, facilities, and properties within the City of Toronto's jurisdiction will not be available to individuals or groups promoting discrimination, contempt, or hatred.
• The City requires authorized users of public space to sign the Declaration of Compliance with Anti-Harassment/Discrimination Legislation and City Policy Form, certifying they will not conduct business that violates hate propaganda laws.