Police in Owen Sound are investigating whether an attack on a black man from Toronto was racially motivated.

Five white men and a woman allegedly beat the man on Tuesday night. He is still in hospital, in serious but stable condition.

He was stabbed in the chest, had other stab wounds, was kicked and punched as well, and also hit with a piece of wood, said Owen Sound deputy police chief Bill Sornberger.

"We're keeping open to all areas of the investigation. In fact, if we have evidence that bears out that it is racially motivated, then we will be going after that with a hate crime," said Sornberger.

"However, our indication bears out right now, our evidence so far is not that he was singled out because he was a black man."

One 19-year-old male has been charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon. Two other were arrested Thursday morning. Police say they hope to make more arrests.

Police said a woman started verbally and physically abusing a man because she mistakenly believed he was responsible for an incident. Witnesses allege the woman then got five men from a nearby apartment to attack the man.

The man, whose name has not been released, made it to hospital in a taxi and immediately underwent surgery for a stab wound to the chest.

Owen Sound is located at the tip of Georgian Bay, about 250 kilometres northwest of Toronto.