MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Members of Canada’s LGBTQ community have denounced a resurgence of “hateful comments and attacks,” including seeing rainbow flags burned, Pride marches disrupted and increasing violence targeting them — all a stark contrast to the country’s reputation of tolerance.

For years, many parts of the country have been considered a haven where one can freely live one’s sexual and gender identity. Canada was one of the first countries in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.

In the five years to 2023, however, the number of crimes and offenses in Canada related to the sexual orientation of victims quadrupled from 186 to 860, according to Statistics Canada.

As in other places in the world, “street violence” and hate on social media has exploded in recent years, observes Pascal Vaillancourt, director of Interligne, a support service for the LGBTQ community.

“People call us and tell us about troubles that we had been hearing less and less about,” he told Agence France-Presse (AFP), pointing to a rise in verbal abuse and physical attacks.

He says he himself was recently — and for the first time — the victim of violent and homophobic threats on the streets of Montreal while out with his partner.

Canada, a “pioneer of diversity and inclusion” in the world, is experiencing a “significant change” with a “marked decline” in public support for the LGBTQ community, says Sanyam Sethi of polling firm Ipsos Canada.

According to a major survey published in June on topics such as same-sex marriage, public displays of affection or anti-discrimination laws, Canada recorded some of the largest declines in almost all aspects among the 26 countries polled.

Only 49 percent of Canadians said they support LGBTQ people speaking openly about their sexual orientation or gender identity, compared to 61 percent in 2021.

“This is the sharpest decline in the world, along with Mexico and Turkey,” commented Sethi.