Canada’s Prime Minister is participating Thursday in a national summit on Islamophobia.

According to police-reported hate crime statistics for 2019, the numbers were down for the second year in a row. That year, there were 608 hate crimes reported where religion was the target, down seven per cent from the year before. However, following a large decrease in hate crimes against the Muslim population in 2018, police reported 15 more incidents in 2019, for a total of 181; up nine per cent. The increase was largely the result of more incidents in Quebec.
The religious group experiencing the most hate crimes is Jews. They experienced a 63 per cent jump as victims in 2017 and another three per cent increase in 2018. The numbers decreased by 20 per cent in 2019, but still saw 296 victims.
Stats Canada says, while police-reported metrics indicate a decrease in hate crimes targeting the Jewish population, an annual audit conducted by B’Nai Brith Canada reported a record number of anti-Semitic incidents for the fourth consecutive year.
The federal government held a national summit on antisemitism Wednesday. the Prime Minister attended that one as well.