Is this a hate crime? Lawyer weighs in on 'illegal alien' video

A defence lawyersays he doesn't expect charges to be laid in a race-related incident caught on camera at a London grocery store this week.

The videowas posted on social media and has been viewed over one million times.

The incident remains underinvestigationby the London policehate crime unit.

"When the police are investigating this and looking at this through the lens of 'does this reach the level of what can be called a hate crime?' I don't even think this comes close,"saidAlvinShidlowski, a Toronto-based criminaldefence lawyer.

"There's a difference between a hate crime and crimes that are motivated or exacerbated by hate."

Shidlowskisays hate crimes are broken into two categories in Canada. One is whena person publishes hate toward a group of people through propaganda. Thesecond category speaks to the stirring up of hatred in a public place.

• 'I was shocked ... I couldn't believe that was being said': witness to 'illegal alien' video

"It doesn't speak to a one-on-one incident, it's talkingmore about the public incitement of hatred toward a group of people," saidShidlowski.

Police were called to a Sobeys grocery store on Adelaide Street North at around 7 p.m. Tuesday to reports of two men arguing.

Police say the men were involved in two interactions inside the store, with the second interactioncaught on camera by thecheck-out area.

In the video, a white man in a red T-shirt is seen physically prohibitinga dark-skinned man with a backpack from exiting the store. At one point, the man in the red T-shirt calls the man in the backpack an "illegal alien."

"It's hard to know what the man in the red T-shirt meant by that or what he was really saying," Shidlowskisaid.

"Certainly, one can assume there was an element of hatred as a motivation, but was he targeting this gentleman because of his skin colour or because of something he believed in terms of his immigration status? Does he know him, or is the gentleman in the red T-shirt mentally ill?"

When police arrived on the scene, the situation was defused. The victim in the case did not pursue assault charges against the aggressor.

"Officers respected the request of the victim in this case, but we continue to look at that and further discussions may occur and he still has the option to change his mind down the road," said London Police Chief John Pare.

Pare says a review of the case bythe hate crime unit is a standard process in London.

"Ultimately, the (investigators) have the responsibility across the city to look at these incidents to see if they meet the criminal threshold or if they don't," he said.

According to the London police website, hatecrimesincluderace, country of origin, ethnicity, skin colour, religion, sex or gender, age, disability, sexual orientation or genderidentity, or any other similar factors. Hate crimes can include assault, sexual assault, murder, threats, harassment and property damage.

• Reported hate crimes on the rise in London, police say

In the spring, a report submitted to the London Police Services Board showed arise in reported hate crimes in the city.The report said there were 64 reported incidents in 2017, compared to 40 incidents in 2016.

Of those 64 incidents, 31 charges were laid. Five incidents involved assault and seven incidents involved racial slurs.