
Addressing Online Hate
Block Hate

Block Hate: Building Resilience against Online Hate Speech is a four-year research and knowledge mobilization project funded by Public Safety Canada’s Community Resilience Fund. It will work with a variety of sectors to co-create concrete solutions for online hate speech and hate crime in communities across Canada.
The overall objective of this project is to improve community resilience by developing technological intervention tools to prevent, address and report online hate speech through community-based research.
It will strengthen civil society responses at the national and local levels through engagement with the information, communication, and technology sector as well as local communities in creating and sharing counter-narratives against Anti-Black racism, Anti-Indigenous racism, Islamophobia and xenophobic or racist discourses. The project will target youth aged 14 to 30 in communities across Canada with a focus on youth experiencing marginalization including young women and non-binary youth, Black, Indigenous and youth of colour, LGBTQ2S+ youth, religious minorities, and youth with disabilities.
The project is comprised of four components: research and knowledge mobilization, creating partnerships with a coalition of stakeholders, building tools to combat hate speech in Canada, and capacity building for community actors.
YWCA Canada Releases 2022 #BlockHate Research Report and Polling Data

YWCA Canada Releases 2022 #BlockHate Research Report and Polling Data
YWCA Canada has authored a new report about online hate in Canada, which centers on the voices, lived experiences, and strategies shared by young women and gender-diverse youth aged 16-30 years.
Read the report here: #BlockHate: Centering Survivors and Taking Action on Gendered Online Hate in Canada – National Report
Read the results of the polling data here: Gender & Online Hate in Canada: A national survey of online hate speech as experienced by women and gender-diverse people aged 16-30.
Block Hate Campaign with CRRF
On March 21, 2020, International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, we launched #BlockHate, a national social media campaign with the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF) to address concerns around the rise of hate speech and racism online. The campaign features women of colour targeted by online hate through social media who share their experiences.
Media

Press:
- YWCA Canada Press Release on Tuesday, October 20th, 2020
- Government of Canada Press Release on Tuesday, October 20th, 2020
- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Announces YWCA Canada’s Block Hate Initiative in Press Conference on Wednesday, October 21st, 2020
- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Highlights YWCA Canada’s Block Hate During Question Period on Thursday, October 22nd, 2020
- CEO of YWCA Canada – Maya Roy’s Op-Ed in National Newswatch – October 22nd, 2020
- Survey suggests one in two people of colour have experienced online racism in Canada – Laura Dhillon Kane – Canadian Press – March 21, 2021
- Young women of colour face hate-filled online environment – Alex Nguyen – Ricochet Media – March 21, 2021
- Racialized Canadians 3 times more likely to experience online hate, survey says – Sabrina Jonas – CBC Media – March 22nd, 2021
- Social media campaign #BlockHate aims to bring online hate to light – Farrah Merali – CBC TV – March 22nd, 2021
- We won’t recover from the COVID-19 pandemic unless the outbreak of online hate is stamped out – Op-Ed in The Globe and Mail by CEO Maya Roy and ED Mohammed Hashim of Canadian Race Relations Foundation – March 23rd, 2021
- Online hate is silencing women and racialized people and it must stop – Amira Elghawaby – Toronto Star – March 23, 2021
Presentations:
For more information about the program, please contact us at projects@ywcacanada.ca.
Block Hate: Building Resilience against Online Hate Speech is funded by the Government of Canada, Public Safety Canada.
Resources

Project Shift:
YWCA Canada Resources:
- A quick guide on sexual image based abuse
- A Rights Guide for Girls, Young Women & Gender Nonconforming Youth
Youth-led Projects: