The last year has seen a rise of anti-Arab sentiment in the province, the Ontario human rights commissioner says.

Chief commissioner Barbara Hall said she is concerned about how so-called "Islamophobia" is impacting Ontario's Arab and Muslim communities, saying recent events around the world and in the province illustrate how tensions can quickly escalate into violent action.

She cited a Toronto incident that occurred the day after police arrested 17 people suspected of plotting to bomb several locations in Ontario, in which one of the city's mosques had its windows smashed.

"We continue to hear ... from Arab and Muslim communities [about] increasing incidents of discrimination," Hall said when she presented the commission's annual report.

Hall also said there is evidence of workplace firings due to ethnicity that indicate a rise in anti-Arab sentiment.

She noted allegations of discrimination against a group of workers at a company that makes defence equipment in several countries, where employees, all with dual citizenship from countries other than the United States, claimed they were discriminated against.

Some were reassigned and others were fired, Hall suggested, because they may have been seen as a potential threat to the company's security.

The report did not cite statistics on the rise of anti-Arab sentiment, but Hall called it "enormous."