Removing barriers to report anti-Asian hate crimes
Letter to Right Hon. Justin Trudeau (Prime Minister of Canada), Hon. David Lametti (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada), and the Ministers of Justice across Canada
Language is a barrier to reporting hate crimes. For those who are not fluent in English, calling the police is intimidating and discourages individuals from contacting the police in the first place.
Bloomberg named Vancouver the Anti-Asian Hate Crime Capital of North America. But hate crimes are not only limited to Vancouver. They take place in cities across British Columbia and Canada.
To stem the rise in hate crimes, we need to change the status quo.
We need an accessible hate crime reporting system for the entire community. This starts with providing a way to report hate crimes online in English and in other languages.
Today, we ask the federal and provincial governments of Canada to:
Make reporting hate crimes to the police as accessible as possible.
Provide a way to report hate crimes online to the police in English and in other languages.
Whether you are Asian or an ally, click to sign and join our movement.
Signed,
Enoch Chang, Partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
Richard Wong, Partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Brooke Greenberg QC, Bencher at Law Society of BC
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
— Margaret Mead