TORONTO: Egale Canada is excited to announce a new partnership with the internationally renowned Dr. Barbara Perry, a specialist in hate and bias-motivated crime, in response to the terrible upward trend in hate crimes recently revealed by Statistics Canada’s analysis of 2009 police-reported hate crime in Canada. According to the report, published in Juristat on June 7, 2011, overall hate crime in Canada increased 42% between 2008 and 2009, and a disturbing 74% of hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation were violent in nature. As such, hate crimes against lesbian, gay and bisexual Canadians were far more likely to result in injury to the victims than those motivated by any other factor.

 

Dr. Perry is Professor of Criminology, Justice and Policy Studies at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. She has written extensively in the area of hate crime, including two books on the topic: In the Name of Hate: Understanding Hate Crime; and Hate and Bias Crime: A Reader. Her work has been published in journals representing diverse disciplines: Theoretical Criminology; Journal of Social and Behavioral Sciences; Journal of History and Politics; and American Indian Quarterly.
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Dr. Perry’s knowledge and expertise are invaluable assets to the fight against hate-motivated crime and violence against the LGBT community in Canada,” remarked Helen Kennedy, Executive Director of Egale Canada. “In our schools and on our streets, homophobic and transphobic bullying and violence have gone unchecked for far too long. This partnership will produce concrete strategies to combat hate crime and ensure the safety of our community.”

 

Given that gender identity and expression are not explicitly included within Canada’s hate crime provisions, there are currently no police-reported data on the incidence of hate crime against trans Canadians. As such, a key element of this partnership will be to eliminate the silence around hate incidents directed toward transsexual, transgender and gender variant Canadians.

 

At a time when two-thirds of LGBT students report feeling unsafe at school, and suicide rates among LGBT youth are far higher than any other demographic, this partnership will be an essential tool for developing safer and more inclusive communities for all Canadians.

 

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For more information:

Dr. Barbara Perry, t: 905-809-5456, e: barbara.perry@uoit.ca

Helen Kennedy, t: 416-964-7887 ext. 21, e: helen_kennedy@egale.ca