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Just as the Quebec government revealed it was backing away from its own, controversial hate crimes legislation, the city of Montreal announced it was setting up a specialized police unit to document and analyze not just hate crimes but hate “incidents.”

Defined as any incident “that is not a crime but that can affect the sense of security of a person or identifiable group because of their race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation or disability,” hate incidents, real or perceived, will be investigated wherever they take place – whether at work, school or on the Internet, said Mayor Denis Coderre.

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“Despite our irreproachable reputation of being a safe city, every year there are hate crimes and incidents,” Coderre told reporters gathered at City Hall. “Some make headlines, some don’t. Two weeks ago, for example, I was profoundly shocked to see that two gay men were attacked in the street for the simple fact that they were kissing.…When something happens should we close our eyes and say this is an isolated incident, and tell ourselves it doesn’t happen here? No. You have to react, denounce and intervene.”