Inquiry called into alleged attacks against Asian-Canadian fishermen

The Ontario Human Rights Commission is launching an inquiry into numerous reports of Asian-Canadian anglers being assaulted because of their race at different fishing spots in the province.

Chief commissioner Barbara Hall says she's calling on victims and witnesses to tell their stories to learn more about the alleged incidents, and whether they signal a systemic problem.

York Regional Police say charges have been laid in four of six known incidents within the last six months at Lake Simcoe in the central Ontario town of Georgina.

In each of the cases, Asian-Canadian anglers were allegedly accosted and pushed into the water without doing anything to provoke the attacks.

In another incident reported in Westport, Ont., near Kingston, a 73-year-old man was beaten unconscious and his son-in-law was thrown off a three-metre-high bridge.

A telephone hotline and special website will be used to conduct interviews for a four-week period starting Wednesday.