Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger said he will be organizing a one-day “summit on hate,” scheduled to take place in September.
He said the event is an attempt to “provide sufficient information for people to get a better understanding” of the rise of hate-related speech and incidents in the city.
Eisenberger said he wants the summit to produce a set of recommendations so the community can “deal with” hate groups “flourishing” within the Hamilton community, along with a rise in violence and hate speech.
“We want to understand why more of (hate speech) is happening today,” said Eisenberger. “It’s much more public, much more active.”
Hamilton has already held one-day summits on the city’s steel industry, housing and economy.
“It really speaks to bringing the community together for everyone to hear the same message,” he said.
The groups that are targets of hate include LGBTQ+, Jewish and other diverse community members that are “seeing evidence of hate."
“I think we need a community understanding as to why this is happening and what is it we can do to curb that,” said Eisenberger.
Hate-related criminal actively decreased in the city in 2018, according to Hamilton police statistics, but there were more hate-related incidents directed at people who are black or Jewish.
Hate crimes refer to criminal incidents that can be against a person or property and may target factors such as race, religion, gender identity, ethnic origin and physical disability.
Over the last year or so Hamilton has been experiencing an upswing of hate-related activities, including most recently the violence at the Hamilton Pride festival at Gage Park, June 15, but also name-calling and intimidation that sometimes occurs at the city hall forecourt when the "yellow vests" protesters are present, and the anarchist violence on Lock Street that occurred last year.
Councillors are wrestling with establishing a policy to eliminate hate-related activities that occur on public property.
“All of that feeds into a need to better understand and prepare ourselves (so that) we need to be ready for it,” Eisenberger said.
Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger said he will be organizing a one-day “summit on hate,” scheduled to take place in September.
He said the event is an attempt to “provide sufficient information for people to get a better understanding” of the rise of hate-related speech and incidents in the city.
Eisenberger said he wants the summit to produce a set of recommendations so the community can “deal with” hate groups “flourishing” within the Hamilton community, along with a rise in violence and hate speech.
“We want to understand why more of (hate speech) is happening today,” said Eisenberger. “It’s much more public, much more active.”
Hamilton has already held one-day summits on the city’s steel industry, housing and economy.
“It really speaks to bringing the community together for everyone to hear the same message,” he said.
The groups that are targets of hate include LGBTQ+, Jewish and other diverse community members that are “seeing evidence of hate."
“I think we need a community understanding as to why this is happening and what is it we can do to curb that,” said Eisenberger.
Hate-related criminal actively decreased in the city in 2018, according to Hamilton police statistics, but there were more hate-related incidents directed at people who are black or Jewish.
Hate crimes refer to criminal incidents that can be against a person or property and may target factors such as race, religion, gender identity, ethnic origin and physical disability.
Over the last year or so Hamilton has been experiencing an upswing of hate-related activities, including most recently the violence at the Hamilton Pride festival at Gage Park, June 15, but also name-calling and intimidation that sometimes occurs at the city hall forecourt when the "yellow vests" protesters are present, and the anarchist violence on Lock Street that occurred last year.
Councillors are wrestling with establishing a policy to eliminate hate-related activities that occur on public property.
“All of that feeds into a need to better understand and prepare ourselves (so that) we need to be ready for it,” Eisenberger said.
Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger said he will be organizing a one-day “summit on hate,” scheduled to take place in September.
He said the event is an attempt to “provide sufficient information for people to get a better understanding” of the rise of hate-related speech and incidents in the city.
Eisenberger said he wants the summit to produce a set of recommendations so the community can “deal with” hate groups “flourishing” within the Hamilton community, along with a rise in violence and hate speech.
“We want to understand why more of (hate speech) is happening today,” said Eisenberger. “It’s much more public, much more active.”
Hamilton has already held one-day summits on the city’s steel industry, housing and economy.
“It really speaks to bringing the community together for everyone to hear the same message,” he said.
The groups that are targets of hate include LGBTQ+, Jewish and other diverse community members that are “seeing evidence of hate."
“I think we need a community understanding as to why this is happening and what is it we can do to curb that,” said Eisenberger.
Hate-related criminal actively decreased in the city in 2018, according to Hamilton police statistics, but there were more hate-related incidents directed at people who are black or Jewish.
Hate crimes refer to criminal incidents that can be against a person or property and may target factors such as race, religion, gender identity, ethnic origin and physical disability.
Over the last year or so Hamilton has been experiencing an upswing of hate-related activities, including most recently the violence at the Hamilton Pride festival at Gage Park, June 15, but also name-calling and intimidation that sometimes occurs at the city hall forecourt when the "yellow vests" protesters are present, and the anarchist violence on Lock Street that occurred last year.
Councillors are wrestling with establishing a policy to eliminate hate-related activities that occur on public property.
“All of that feeds into a need to better understand and prepare ourselves (so that) we need to be ready for it,” Eisenberger said.