The Inquiry arose out of the significant increase in reported hate-related incidents, including online incidents in British Columbia, since the start of the pandemic in early 2020. The Inquiry is focused on hate in all its forms, not only racism and racial hate. For the purposes of this Inquiry, “hate incidents” are actions and speech rooted in prejudice that, in the view of the person who experiences or witnesses it, are:

• aimed at a person or a group of people because of their actual or perceived individual, collective or intersecting characteristics including age, disability, gender expression or identity, ethnicity, Indigenous identity, place of origin, race, immigration status, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and social condition, and
• intended to, or does, significantly dehumanize, humiliate, degrade, injure, silence and/or victimize the targeted individual or group.

More information about the Inquiry is available in the terms of reference.