Montreal groups call to meet city over DEI policy, rise in hate crimes and extremism

Five organizations serving racialized communities in Montreal are calling to meet with the city’s new anti-racism commissioner — Maty Diop — following prior concerns over the city’s new diversity, equity, and inclusion policy.

They had been asking the city to declare hate crimes and extremism a public security priority, and on Monday the city council voted to include these concepts.

“The City of Montreal accepted the request made by community groups to clarify the use of the term racism and the various forms of racism that persist among staff and citizens,” said the city in a statement. “The EDI Policy was amended at City Council this week to include anti-Semitism and Islamophobia as forms of racism and discrimination.

“City services include issues of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia when working to raise awareness or combat hate crimes, as shown in the latest 2023-2025 commitment report. City services include anti-Black racism and anti-Asian racism in their work, as shown by the awareness-raising actions presented in the latest 2023-2025 commitment report.”

Now the groups are focusing on getting a seat at the table.

“For the City of Montreal to say, I see these visible minority groups, these vulnerable communities who make up my city, and I want to do the right things to protect them, I think this is a really big step forward,” said Seeta Ramdass, an advisor with the Black Community Resource Centre.

“We know that political and ideological extremism happening all around the planet is right here, it’s growing exponentially, so if we do not put the countermeasures into these things, they’ll just continue to proliferate.”

Representatives of the Centre for Research Action on Race Relations (CRARR), Black Community Resource Center, the Chinese Association of Montreal, the Canadian Council of Muslim Women – Montreal Chapter and the Filipino Family Service, as well as members of the official opposition Ensemble Montreal, say acts of violence within Montreal have been on the rise since the pandemic. In 2024, nearly 600 reports of hate incidents were recorded.

“Anti-Black racism and hatred still rank among the top groups, Blacks targeted by hate crimes. We have it in schools, in high schools, hockey rinks,” said Yvonne Sam, the chair of the human rights committee at the Black Community Resource Centre.

“If you’re making a policy, a first-time policy, and on these issues, racism, hate crimes, and we’re not included, something’s wrong there, something’s definitely wrong.”

Bryant Chang, the vice-president of the Chinese Association of Montreal, added: “Although the anti-Asian (sentiment) was not mentioned, we’re hoping that it will be addressed in the next step. For us, this is an initial step. It’s a positive sign, but we’re expecting more to come out of it.”

The groups point to incidents of hate targeting Jewish and Arab-Muslim communities in Montreal.

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, to July 31 of this year, police tell CityNews that 284 hate crimes and incidents targeting the Jewish community were reported, and 86 were against the Arab-Muslim community, though authorities clarify that these figures could be higher, as these account for reported incidents.

They also clarify there is no offence identified as a “hate crime” in the Criminal Code and that hate is a constituent and aggravating factor in a given criminal act, a factor that must be nuanced according to the context.

“Hate doesn’t discriminate. Hate is pervasive in our society and there are more and more spaces where it gets bigger and is fed, whether it’s online or in spaces where there is no rebuttal,” said Sonny Moroz, city councillor for the Snowdon district in Côte-Des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-De-Grâce.

The groups also referenced recent reports of alleged extremism in the Canadian military in Quebec and the terrorism charge against a youth in Montreal.

“When people are engaging in harm, driving into a crowd, blowing up things, there’s a lot of collateral damage of other human beings who had nothing to be more part of the initial targets. There’s no room for that in our city,” said Ramdass.

The City of Montreal confirmed to CityNews that meetings with the Commissioner for Combating Racism and Systemic Discrimination will begin next month to discuss an action plan to battle racism and systemic discrimination between 2026 and 2030.

“There’s an opportunity for the city to show more leadership and to address hate crimes beyond the police,” said Fo Niemi, the executive director of CRARR.

“(Because) it seems that the policy, if it’s about hate crime, it’s a police. No, it’s not just about the police. The city can have a lot of leverage in combating hate.”