Evidence of meeting #152 for Justice and Human Rights in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was groups.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Deputy Executive Director and Senior General Counsel, Human Rights Promotion, Canadian Human Rights Commission
We do partner with several organizations in terms of education function. We have not partnered with any organization in terms of collection of data.
Deputy Executive Director and Senior General Counsel, Human Rights Promotion, Canadian Human Rights Commission
If we had unlimited resources—
Deputy Executive Director and Senior General Counsel, Human Rights Promotion, Canadian Human Rights Commission
—that might be something we would do, but unfortunately not.
NDP
Tracey Ramsey NDP Essex, ON
Thank you.
Mr. Arnot, have you been able to have any type of initiative in Saskatchewan?
Chief Commissioner, Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission
The short answer is no.
Chief Commissioner, Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission
On the point of education, though, in Saskatchewan we have created a pedagogy that answers the questions, what does it mean to be a Canadian citizen and what are the rights of citizenship, and also, what are the responsibilities that go with those rights, and how do you build and maintain respect for every citizen. Why? It's because every human being, every citizen, deserves equal moral consideration.
It is a large pedagogy. It's in all the schools in Saskatchewan, in grades K to 12, and it's available in French and English.
What we're doing is hopefully creating a citizen who embodies five Es, a citizen who is enlightened, ethical, empowered, engaged and empathetic. It's this broad rubric that we really need to inculcate in the minds of students in Canada.
NDP
Tracey Ramsey NDP Essex, ON
Last, we talked a lot about the tools that are needed by the RCMP, by the human rights commissions, by everyone basically, but when it boils down to reporting, there's no standardization of the way that social media gather reporting and allow people to report. Even how to report is very difficult for a lot of people, or what happens after you report.
We've heard actually from several groups that going directly to the police is a challenge for some racialized communities and indigenous communities in Canada. There has been a suggestion of having an intermediary in that space so that they could go to report without feeling that they're directly engaging with the police services and the RCMP.
Can any of you weigh in on what you think we should be doing to create reporting mechanisms that are transparent and understandable for Canadians?
Chief Commissioner, Canadian Human Rights Commission
Before I give the floor to Ms. Maillet, I want to make one point.
In my presentation, I spoke of the need for a broad, coordinated and multi-faceted approach. The current radical growth of online hate mustn't be addressed by a single organization. Instead, there must be a coordinated and collaborative approach. That's the only way to collect data that will help us analyze and address the phenomenon.
Online hate is growing at a tremendous rate. It has exploded. It's difficult to gain the upper hand. Without a coordinated and proactive approach, we won't succeed.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Housefather
Thanks. We're past the six minutes now.
I'm going to Mr. Ehsassi.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Witnesses, thank you for your valuable testimony.
I'll start off with Ms. Inman. I was looking over your testimony and you referenced engagement sessions. I understand that these went on between October 2018 and March 2019. Since those engagement sessions have wrapped up, are you putting together a summary of your findings that would be publicly available?
Director General, Multiculturalism, Department of Canadian Heritage
Yes, we're continuing work on that right now and it's our intention to publish a report basically that wraps up not only the in-person engagement sessions, but also the online submissions that we received. For those who couldn't attend the sessions, there was the opportunity to go online and submit either a written submission or respond to one of two surveys that mirrored the in-person engagement we had.
There is the intention to make that available once the data analysis and gathering is complete.
Director General, Multiculturalism, Department of Canadian Heritage
I'm not sure. My best guess would be probably a little later in the summer.
Director General, Multiculturalism, Department of Canadian Heritage
I don't think it will be six months from now. It should be in relatively short order.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Thank you very much.
Now, if I could go to you, Superintendent Taplin, in your testimony you provided some very disturbing information, I would say. You say that “two out of three victims of hate-motivated crime do not report to police”.
Why is that? That's an incredibly high number. Is it, in your opinion, because the police do not have the resources? Is it because in many instances people know that going to the police isn't going to result in anything effective? In your opinion, why is this happening over and over again?
Supt Kimberly Taplin
Thank you for the question. I'm not in a position to give an opinion about that, but what I can say is that we are aware that it is important that communities understand the role the police can play and that they trust the police to investigate crimes.
What we are doing is working with our communities to enhance our relationships with our community members, meeting with our community members and providing presentations on hate crime and other topics. That's twofold. One, it puts a face of the police to the community. Two, it provides a point of contact so that the community can actually reach out to the police. Enhancing our visibility in the communities is tremendously important.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Thank you.
You also touched on the fact that the RCMP is monitoring threats. In a lot of the incidents we've been reading about, there essentially has been a trail of hate, if you will. All this evidence comes to light after a terrible incident happens. What do you do once you monitor a particular individual who is spewing hate? What do you do with that information?
Supt Kimberly Taplin
Right. Thank you very much for that question as well.
That's not my area of expertise; however, what I can say is that the RCMP is committed to investigating all incidents of suspected or actual information with respect to hate-motivated crimes and incidents. When we do receive information, we investigate all leads and all information to the best of our abilities.