Toronto’s Murder Rate Lower Than Other Canadian Cities

It may come as a surprise to those still reeling from Toronto’s ‘year of the gun’ in 2005, but this city’s homicide rate was on line with the national average last year and well below other Canadian cities.

Though the overall Canadian homicide rate was up last year – reaching its highest level in nearly a decade at 2.0 persons slain per 100,000 – Toronto was only ranked 10th compared to other major cities.

“Toronto is a safe city. It is one of the safest cities in North America and we need to keep that in mind,” said Toronto Police spokesperson Mark Pugash.

There were 658 homicides across the country last year, a four-per-cent increase over 2004. Toronto’s murder rate lines up with the national rate, at 2.0 victims per 100,000 people. Edmonton had the highest per capita murder rate in 2005, with 4.3 people killed per 100,000.

Other Western Canadian cities including Vancouver, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg also had rates above the national average. Montreal’s was lower, at 1.3 per 100,000 – the lowest it’s been since 1981.

Pugash credits community assistance for the increased number of solved crimes in the past couple of years.

“Most major categories of crime are down and that’s encouraging and it is a long-term trend. Clearly homicides are up and we are getting help from the community,” he said. “We solved more in the last number of years. We are recovering more guns that we have and that’s good news and a lot we are doing to stem the violence.”

National rates for other serious crimes including attempted murder, robbery and aggravated assault also rose last year, while non-violent crime and property offences were down six per cent.

The overall national crime rate fell by five per cent in 2005. Saskatchewan had the highest overall provincial crime rate for the year, followed by British Columbia and Manitoba. The lowest per capita rates were in Ontario and Quebec.

While officials talk in numbers, statistics don’t convey the human cost of crime. Joy Wellington is struggling to come to grips with the death of her 17-year-old son Omar, who was beaten and stabbed to death in Flemingdon Park last weekend.

The horrific reality of her son’s death hit her when she saw how her son’s face was disfigured by his attackers.

“It does tell the story and it will be hard for a lot of people to look at the body,” the distraught mother said. “We need to put a stop to this violence. We have to do something about it.”