VANCOUVER — The British Columbia government is offering groups up to $10,000 each and will launch a racist incident helpline to combat hate-motivated violence in the province. 

Premier David Eby made the announcement, saying no one should live in fear because of who they are and no one in B.C. should be targeted because of the war in the Middle East. 

Eby says there has been a “deeply troubling” rise in acts of hate and racism against members of the Muslim and Jewish communities.

The funding will be provided to places of worship, cultural community centres, and other organizations working with at-risk groups to help pay for security equipment, graffiti removal and repairs to damage done by hate-motivated crimes. 

The government says it will use anonymized data from the helpline to inform it of where and how to deploy additional resources to fight racism. 

B.C.’s human rights commissioner, Kasari Govender, said in a statement earlier this month that events in Gaza had caused a surge in discrimination and violence against both Jewish and Muslim people. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2023. 

The Canadian Press