In 2017 there was a total of 255 police-reported hate crimes in B.C., an increase of 55 per cent compared to just two years earlier. According to Statistics Canada, these crimes were motivated largely by race and ethnicity, which follows a Canada-wide trend of rising incidents of hate and racism.

To help address the problem, Kahlon will travel across British Columbia this summer to meet with community organizations and those who have been effected by hate crimes to find out how they are being dealt with on the ground. The tour will include Duncan, Nanaimo, Prince George and Cranbrook, but he plans to add many more communities and First Nations to the list.

“We felt it was appropriate to get out into communities and talk to folks who are dealing with these issues on the front lines,” he said.

Kahlon said he doesn’t know exactly why hate crimes have become an increasing problem, but he believes Canadians have been influenced by sentiments coming from the U.S. as well as “extreme views” in parts of Europe.

“Supporters of the U.S. president are more active and more bold in some of the comments they are making, but it’s also in Eastern Europe and across the globe,” he said. “Canada is not immune … when the U.S. sneezes, Canada catches a cold.”

However, he added that Canada has it’s own prejudices that must be addressed. Kahlon pointed to the recent report from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which found evidence of violent and systemic human rights violations against Indigenous peoples, which they determined amounted to a genocide.

“The report highlighted that this is not something emerging now, it’s been happening over a long time, it’s a historical legacy we haven't addressed well enough,” he said.

As for possible solutions to the rise in hate crimes, Kahlon said he is leaving it up to communities to tell him what they need.