COLLINS – Hate crimes, bullying will not go away quickly

A 500-PAGE REPORT (LAST) WEEK by Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender is a document designed as a pathway to reducing hate-related crime.

The report, entitled From Hate to Hope, is a litany of crimes ranging from serious incidents threatening lives and property to crimes against ethnic and religious groups to bullying and trolling on social media.

Govender’s report contains a number of recommendations, the major one being a centralized, all-inclusive reporting system to track incidents and try in some way to deal with the perpetrators.

Govender says there has been a sharp rise in hate crimes during the pandemic. Some of that rise may have been due to fear. When we get frightened, we tend to lash out, but that’s a very simplified answer.

Hate crimes jumped 118 per cent from 2019 to 2021 in B.C. That’s big. Hate incidents against Indigenous peoples were up 367 per cent. Because white society is afraid of all the land claims? No idea. But the results are there.

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Doug Collins has had a wide background in the broadcast industry, having done virtually every type of news and sports broadcasting, including news anchor, sports play-by-play, and editorialist. His “One Man’s Opinion” aired on TV from 1973- 2013. He retired from his management roles in the station in October, 2018, but continues to write his column. In 2019, Doug was awarded the Freedom of the City.