OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says hate crimes in Canada rose by five per cent in 2015.

The agency says the rise is largely due to an increase in incidents targeting certain groups, specifically the Muslim population and Arabs or West Asians.

In 2015, police reported 1,362 criminal incidents motivated by hate, 67 more than the previous year, according to the data published today.

Police-reported hate crimes targeting the Muslim population rose from 99 incidents in 2014 to 159 incidents in 2015, while crimes targeting the Jewish population declined from 213 in 2014 to 178 in 2015.

StatsCan says eight of 10 provinces reported an increase in the number of police-reported hate crimes from 2014 to 2015.

The increase was most pronounced in Alberta, which the agency notes reported an overall increase in their 2015 crime statistics.