Hate crimes targeting Muslims doubled in 2017, says Quebec City police chief

The number of police-reported hate crimes orhateful incidents targetingMuslim people or institutions doubled in the last year, according to Quebec City Police Chief Robert Pigeon.

Looking back on the first year of his tenure, Pigeon told reporters Tuesday so far this year, there hasbeena total of 71 hateful incidents in the Quebec City area, of which 42 targetedMuslims. In 2016, there were 57 in all, 21 aimed at Muslims.

He said of those cases targeting Muslims, 14, or 66 per cent,led to an arrest or were resolvedin 2016, while only 10 of this year's 42,just 23 per cent,havebeen closed so far.

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Tuesday's news conferenceis one of the few times Pigeon has spoken with the media about the rise in hate crimes following the Jan. 29 mosque shooting that killed six men.

He suggested the fact that people in the community are reporting these incidents when they occurwill help police pick out patterns and figure out where their efforts might be most helpful.

"I want people to let us knowwhat'shappening on our territory, so we can help with prevention," he said.

No need for special hate crimes unit

The Quebec City Police Servicedoes not have a dedicated hate crimes unitand the city is one of only three majorCanadian municipalities that doesn't track hate crimesunder the guidelines laid out by Statistics Canada.

Pigeon told CBCNews there's no need for a special unit because the volume of incidents isn't high enough.

"It's not necessary to put a full-time team of eight people on it," he said.

He saidthe force has been working with Montreal police and the provincial Sret du Qubecto share information and expertise.

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Pigeon admitted his first year on the job got off to a rough start.

"For a police chief, it's never good news when a shooter enters any public place and starts killing people," he said. "So it's an enormous challenge."

He did say, however, that he was proud of how his police force handled the situationin the minutes following the mosque attack.

"Four minutes after the first call, our forces were mobilized," he said. "Despite the tragic nature of the situation, I'm proud of the way police responded."

Car torching not labelled hate crime

There have been several incidents involving the Islamic Cultural Centre, the site of the shooting,that police have resisted labelling as hate crimes.

In July,adefacedQur'anand a hateful note were mailed to the mosque. Thatincident was deemed an "incident" rather than a full-fledged hate crime.

One month later,thecar belonging to the head of the mosque was set on fire outside his home.

The Islamic centre was alsothe target of xenophobic messagesand vandalism prior to the shooting, such aswhen a gift-wrapped pig's head was left at the mosque's doorstep.

Montreal also sees rise in hate crimes

Montreal police have also reported a significant increase in hate crimes in 2017, compared to last year.

In the first half of 2017 between Jan. 1 and June 1 police received 101 reports of hate crimes or hateful incidents.

In 2016, 137 crimes were reported over the course ofthe entire year.

Of the 101 reported incidents so far this year, more than half of them,57,were religiously motivated.

Montreal police don't break down which religions were targeted, butthe hate crimes unit did seea big bump in reports immediately after the shooting in Quebec City.