Hate crimes have risen dramatically in Vancouver. With the spike in racist incidents came the need for better reporting tools through the Vancouver Police Department.
Earlier this year, a local Asian lawyer used his voice to highlight the issues presented by the VPD online hate crime reporting system after someone yelled a racial slur at him.
“I was shocked. I was appalled that something overtly racist like this would happen. I was born in Vancouver. I grew up in this city,” Ngo told Daily Hive.
When trying to report a crime, he only received two options: Chinese, and Simplified Chinese.
The problem was, Ngo didn’t speak Chinese at all.
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“That was probably the most surprising part. Does this mean that only people who are Chinese are the subject of hate crimes? I don’t think so,” Ngo added.
The VPD has seemingly listened to the community and has added more options for anyone who is looking to report a hate crime.
It still includes options for Chinese and Simplified Chinese, but it also adds English, Japanese, Korean, Punjabi, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
Punjabi hate crime report/VPD
An Angus Reid Institute study recently revealed that young, lower-income Asian-Canadians are at the highest risk of being victims of a hate crime.