In Waterloo, Ontario, the Waterloo Regional Police Service has launched an investigation into a hate-motivated incident after racial slurs were found written inside an apartment on University Avenue between Dec. 21 and Dec. 30, 2025.
Officers say an unknown individual entered the unit and wrote racial slurs with markers on the interior walls. It is not yet clear whether the suspect forced entry or already had access to the building. The victim’s identity has not been released for safety reasons, according to police.
The incident comes as Waterloo Region continues to grapple with high per‑capita rates of police‑reported hate crimes. Statistics Canada data, reported in late 2024, showed the Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo census metropolitan area had one of the highest rates in Canada (about 34 hate crimes per 100,000 people in 2023). “It causes great concern for us,” said WRPS Chief Mark Crowell in recent comments on regional hate‑crime data, adding that “there’s a lot of work ahead of us.”
The discovery has renewed concerns about student safety and residential security in the University Avenue corridor, which serves many University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier students. Local advocacy efforts in the region include the ‘We All Belong Here’ campaign and the African, Caribbean and Black Network of Waterloo Region.
Police asked anyone with information or surveillance video related to the University Avenue area (the student‑heavy corridor commonly described as between King Street and Westmount Road) to contact the Waterloo Regional Police Service. The force says the matter is being investigated as a hate‑motivated incident; whether charges would be laid or classified as a formal hate crime would depend on the evidence and any subsequent Crown decisions.
