According to York Regional Police, the Ontario Provincial Police, fishing associations and other community organizations, there were far fewer formal reports of incidents involving harassment or assault of Asian Canadian anglers since the autumn of 2007 than there had been the previous year.
The following incidents were reported to police during the 2008/2009 fishing season:
Some people, upon hearing about others’ concerns, came forward and reported incidents that happened to them previously. For example:
Just as it had in 2007, YRP set up an undercover operation to catch any individuals who harassed or assaulted any anglers. Fortunately, the 30-day operation was uneventful. In the words of one of the project’s officers:
“[Project Safe Shores’] goal was to satisfy that things were back to normal, and it gave us some feedback in that sense in that the work was done: that in fact those areas were safe for the public to use.”
Although there were fewer reported incidents during the fishing season in 2008, Commission staff did hear of informal reports of further troubling incidents, but the victims chose not to report their experiences to police. This is an indication that further work needs to be done to address barriers to reporting, including public education about hate crimes, outreach to underserviced communities, and ensuring multi-language services. Part of this response includes ensuring that victims have adequate support from community agencies if they do not want police to become involved.[2]
One person, a member of an angling organization that serves many Chinese newcomers, indicates that he experienced and witnessed multiple incidents. He provided this insight:
I feel this kind of thing hurts Asian anglers. Most people keep silent; they don’t speak up. If they don’t know English, they don’t know how to report. They are telling me instead.
Canada is a multicultural country. If they had a hotline, a police hotline, in languages other than English or French, that’s much better. Give them some way to protect themselves. Because if they don’t know English they can’t report properly.
There can be a number of reasons why there have been fewer reported incidents of hate activity against Asian Canadian anglers after the Inquiry. In general, the fishing season across Ontario in 2008 was poor, with bad weather and high gas prices forcing many people from their usual fishing spots.
However, individuals from community organizations have indicated that the combined efforts of the Inquiry, and the speedy initiatives undertaken by many organizations, particularly police, have resulted in greater awareness of this issue on the part of the general public. The extensive media coverage has helped in this regard. The Commission understands that these combined efforts have demonstrated that these incidents were taken very seriously. The Commission hopes that this in turn resulted in increased safety for anglers, increased understanding around racism, and has deterred harassing behaviour. In one person’s words:
I know last year, your organization had some talk about trying to do something. That’s why this time I reported it to the police. Otherwise I wouldn’t report. If this happened two years ago, I wouldn’t have reported it.
[2] Recommendation 34 in the Hate Crimes Community Working Group Report states, “Shift funding of community-based victim services from short-term, project-based funding, to long-term sustainable funding (OVSS, MCSCS).” Hate Crimes Community Working Group. Addressing Hate Crime in Ontario: Final Report of the Hate Crimes Community Working Group to the Attorney General and the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services. (Ontario, 2006) at 93.