Hate crimes more than doubled against South Asians in Mississauga and Brampton: report

The number of hate crime charges laid were up again last year while the number of South Asian victims more than doubled in Mississauga and Brampton, police say.

The numbers come from the latest Peel Police Service Board hate crime report and show a 17 per cent increase in reported hate crimes across both cities, up to 195 from 166 reported in 2024.

Of those reports, 46 resulted in a combined 97 charges against 46 people, the report says. That’s down from 2024 when Peel police laid 74 hate crime-related – more than double the 35 hate-related charges filed in 2023.

Tracking back to 2022, police in Peel laid 37 charges and there were 123 hate crimes reported in the region.

With 96 reports, Mississauga saw some 40 per cent more hate crimes than Brampton’s 58 in 2025, according to the report. Peel police 11 Division, which covers Mississauga west of Mavis Road, saw the highest number of offences reported (61), while Brampton’s 22 Division, which covers the city west of Highway 410, had the lowest (24).

And when looking at reports by demographic, the report shows the South Asian community was identified “as a sole or partial motivating factor” in 84 of the 195 hate crimes reported in both cities last year – a 115 per cent increase from 2024.

Incidents impacting members of the Black community “remained unchanged from 2024 with 42 occurrences,” the report says.

“It should be noted that multiple races, ethnic groups, or nationalities may be identified as motivating factors within a single occurrence,” the report reads.

Religion also played a factor in 47 of the incidents in 2025, with Jewish residents reporting the most with 44 incidents, up from 34 in 2024. Christians reported seven incidents, Muslims reported 13, Hindus reported four, Sikhs reported three, while none reported by Catholics.

The types of hate-motivated crimes ranged from mischief, which saw the majority of reports with 104, to violent incidents including 34 assaults, a dozen assaults with a weapon, two charges of public incitement of hatred and one bomb threat.

There were 77 violent hate-motivated crimes reported in 2025 compared to 79 in 2024.

READ MORE: Hate crimes targeted by new police squad in Mississauga and Brampton

Despite the increase in total crimes reported in 2025, hate-motivated incidents “continue to account for a small proportion
of overall reported crime within the region,” police say.

“The increase in reported cases in 2025 likely reflects a combination of increased reporting, expanded investigative oversight, and greater community awareness following the establishment of a dedicated Hate Crime Unit,” police say in the report’s conclusion.

Peel Regional Police formed a dedicated and centralized Hate Crime Unit in late 2025 to enhance their response to both hate-motivated crimes and “culturally sensitive” incidents. The new squad of officers works with other departments within the police force as well as community organizations in an effort to “provide a more streamlined and culturally responsive approach to community safety,” police said in a news release.

Race, ethnicity and nationality were the most-identified motivating factors in incidents last year, accounting for 146 or 75 per cent of reported hate-motivated crimes.