Ottawa - New data from Statistics Canada show that the number of hate crimes reported to police across the country increased by 37 percent in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the previous year.

The agency says 2,669 hate crimes were reported in 2020 – the highest number since comparable data became available in 2009.

Meanwhile, the report shows that the overall rate of police-reported crimes, excluding traffic violations, dropped by 10 percent from 2019 to 2020.

Statistics Canada says police-reported hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity rose by 80 percent in 2020 compared to 2019 and made up the largest part of the national increase.

It says reported hate crimes targeting East and Southeast Asian peoples rose by 301 percent; those targeting Black people rose by 92 percent. Anti-Indigenous crimes rose by 152 percent; and those against South Asian peoples rose by 47 percent.

The report says the highest increases in police-reported hate crimes were in Nova Scotia (70 percent), British Columbia (60 percent), Saskatchewan (60 percent), Alberta (39 percent), and Ontario (35 percent).

There was no reported increase in Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, or the Northwest Territories, but the report notes that the relatively small population and number of hate crimes in the territories make year-to-year comparisons less reliable.

Both violent and non-violent hate crimes increased compared to 2019 and contributed "roughly equally" to the overall rise in hate crimes in 2020, according to Statistics Canada.

The report says hate crimes targeting religion declined for the third consecutive year after peaking in 2017. But it says the 515 incidents reported in 2020 are still higher than annual figures before 2017.

The report adds that Jewish and Muslim populations remain the most common targets of religion-based hate crimes.

The agency said there was a 2 percent decrease in reported hate crimes targeting sexual orientation in 2020, but the 259 reported incidents are the second highest since comparable data became available in 2009.

 Statistics Canada says the increase in reported hate crimes in 2020 may still underestimate the number of incidents, given that not all were reported to police.