THE RISING TIDE OF HATE

Hate crimes are rising all across the province, amid a backdrop of deepening political divisions and a staggering decline in civility, both in person and online. The reported crimes are just the tip of the iceberg — and only a tiny fraction of those result in convictions. The pain is widespread and raw, but there are solutions to explore, too. As one MP put it, this is a 'linchpin moment, where we're either going to keep it in the grenade or we're going to see some things explode.'

Looking down on the city of Hamilton from snowy cliff, their hands wrapped in boxing gloves, the small group of white nationalists stood shoulder-to-shoulder and raised their right arms in the Nazi salute.

"Community activists raising a boxing glove at the top of a mountain. Symbolizing our will to fight and struggle for Our Folk, Family, and Future," reads the caption under the photo, taken from Sam Lawrence Park, a popular vista atop the Niagara Escarpment and posted to the social media site Telegram. The post also includes a video of the men, masked to hide their identities, throwing untutored punches at each other in sloppy sparring matches.

The group, calling itself "Nationalist 13" has been growing on Telegram, a popular digital den for white nationalists. There were only a handful of

members when it started in June, but it now has more than 1,000 followers. Online, the group targets

Black people, politicians, Jewish people and the LGTBQ+ community, particularly transgender people. For several months, Nationalist 13 has crept out of the digital shadows as a gang of vandals, proudly claiming responsibility for placing neo-Nazi propaganda stickers on lampposts, playgrounds, street signs, and other public structures largely around Hamilton.

They have also targeted anti-drag show protests and, in their most visible acts to date, engaged in combat-style training in Hamilton parks and waved white nationalist flags from a parkway overpass.

But the extremist group is not operating in a vacuum, and they are certainly not alone.

There is a rising tide of hate in Ontario, although much of it not the work of organized groups like this.

Hate incidents — from assaults to vandalism — have been increasing in Ontario for several years, with police services reporting 612 incidents in 2016, and nearly triple that in 2021, with 1,629. The trend is reflected nationally where police-reported hate crimes jumped from 1,951 in 2019 to 3,360 in 2021 — a 72 per cent increase.

The majority of these incidents are non-violent, with the charge of mischief — which includes vandalism — being the most common criminal charge laid by police.

The police statistics do not reflect the true state of hate in the province — police and anti-hate groups say many hate incidents go unreported, although how many is difficult to determine.

What is clear is that the rise in incidents is not matched by a rise in hate crime charges or convictions, a Metroland investigation has found.