Survey: Hate crimes increase in Canada

MONTREAL, March 1 (JTA) — Hate crimes in Canada were up 29 percent in 1998, but anti-Semitic vandalism was down, according to an annual survey of anti-Semitism. The survey, conducted by the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada, found that there were 198 cases of hate-related harassment — threats, slurs and the distribution of hate propaganda — in 1998. There were 42 incidents of anti-Semitic vandalism last year, as compared with 58 the year before. According to Robert Libman, the Quebec regional director of B’nai Brith Canada, the rise in hate crimes can be explained by the increased dissemination of propaganda on the Internet. Libman added that the so-called millennial madness and the continuing crisis in the Middle East were other possible factors in the hate crimes increase.