What happens when someone reports a hate crime or incident?

Police-reported hate crimes in Canada doubled from 2019 to 2023. Hate crimes and incidents significantly harm survivors of hate crimes and incidents and their communities. While research documents the underreporting of hate crimes and incidents, what is less understood are the experiences of survivors who report hate crimes and incidents. To explore this matter, we conducted a qualitative descriptive Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) study, interviewing 18 participants between February and May 2022 who had reported hate crimes and incidents to organizations in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada over the past five years. They shared several insights. First, how organizations respond to reports of hate crimes and incidents does not reliably meet the needs of people victimized by these occurrences and can significantly impact survivors. Second, understandings and experiences of hate crimes and incidents, and how organizations respond to them, are based on lived experiences of historical and ongoing systemic and societal discrimination. Third, interpersonal relationships, existing knowledge and beliefs, and previous experiences influence people’s choices to report a hate crime or incident. These insights have implications for organizations and governments supporting survivors of hate crimes and incidents. Timely, consistent, victim-centred, evidence-based services that address systemic gaps must be a priority.