COMMUNITY ONLINE HATE REPORTING

COMMUNITY ONLINE HATE REPORTING

The Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion and Dr. Ameil Joseph of the school of School Work at McMaster University are working on an independent, user-friendly community based online hate reporting platform to tackle hate on an individual and societal level[1]. This work has been informed by research done in 2019/2020 by students from the Gender Studies and Feminism Research program at McMaster University. The creation of an independent, user-friendly, and multifaceted online reporting system can serve as an inclusive and effective alternative to study and infer the prevalence and patterns of hate-motivated incidents, to underscore the deleterious impact such events have on target communities, and to provide access to and overview of counselling services and other helpful tools to victims/survivors of hate-motivated incidents. To date, 16 participants have contributed through focus groups to assess preliminary needs for a community-based online hate reporting platform. This preliminary research has been conducted in partnership with the Office of Community Engagement at McMaster University. The project will continue with further outreach to engage communities and populations that have not yet had a chance to participate. 

The current barometer of assessing hate crime in any community comes from Police department and Statistics Canada reports. In 2019, Hamilton had the highest number of hate crimes per capita in Canada. [2] Further numbers showed that the Black community, the 2SLGBTQ + community and religious communities were impacted the most. Many of these communities also have a mistrust in the Police system; thus many hate crimes go unreported. As such, is it important to create an independent user-friendly community online hate reporting platform that allows residents of Hamilton to create a safe community and give an informed and enhanced picture of the climate of hate in Hamilton.  

 

For more information please contact Kojo Damptey at kdamptey@hcci.ca and Dr. Ameil Joseph at ameilj@mcmaster.ca 

If you would like to contribute funds to this initiative make a donation here https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/8017  (attn Online Hate Platform)

 

Exploring the Necessity and Feasibility of an Online Hate-Reporting System

Prepared by:

Shubham Maini, Department of Gender Studies and Feminist Research, McMaster University

Nawshaba Ahmed, Department of Gender Studies and Feminist Research, McMaster University

Supervisors:

Dr. Ameil Joseph

Kojo Damptey

2019

Executive Summary

The first part of this report examines how the current institutional legislation and mechanisms fall short of addressing and resolving the intricate and rampant problem of hate-based incidents in Canada. Due to factors such as significantly low reporting rates and limited scope and relevance of the official definition of hate crimes, the current organizational structure and regulations are restrictive, obscure, ineffective, and unreliable; consequently, the status quo is unable to combat hate-based discrimination and violence and, due to inadequate reporting, fails to investigate the underlying nature, complexities, and circumstances associated with hate incidents. The second part focuses on how an independent, user-friendly, and multifaceted online reporting system can overcome the current obstacles to adequately tackling hate at both the individual and the structural level. Formulation of an independent, user-friendly, and multifaceted online reporting system can serve as an inclusive and effective alternative to study and infer the prevalence and patterns of hate-motivated incidents, to underscore the deleterious impact such events have on target communities, and to provide access to and overview of counselling services and other helpful tools to victims of hate-motivated incidents. 

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We welcome feedback, comments, and questions.
Please email, call, or use the form below to connect with our team.

info@hcci.ca

Hamilton Center for Civic Inclusion 

423 King Street East
Hamilton ON, L8N 1C5

(905) 297 4694

info@hcci.ca

423 King Street East, Hamilton ON, L8N 1C5

(905) 297-4694