Homicide stats in Canadian Cities

[Jammon]

Originally Posted by Jeff

Winnipeg is at 19 now.

I cant remember a time in our history when I've ever seen more inept leadership at a provincial and civic level. Useless premier and mayor. No solutions to curb the crime here or address the social issues and substance use. Sorry, my rant for the day. I just get frustrated seeing all this crime and there seems to be little appetite to deal with it.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by Jammon

I cant remember a time in our history when I've ever seen more inept leadership at a provincial and civic level. Useless premier and mayor. No solutions to curb the crime here or address the social issues and substance use. Sorry, my rant for the day. I just get frustrated seeing all this crime and there seems to be little appetite to deal with it.

i agree. it feels like a free for all on the streets these days.

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by Jeff

Winnipeg is at 19 now.

Damn, that equals 1 murder per week so far this year. Four 1/2 months into 2022 and we're almost at half of what we had last year.

[biguc]

Wow, Winnipeg could crack 50 this year. It's crazy that it's in spitting distance of Toronto in absolute numbers.

[Acajack]

It doesn't look like much in sheer numbers but I've mentioned before that Prince Albert, SK is averaging about 10 murders a year, for a population of only about 35,000.

That's a homicide rate of around 30 per 100,000.

It has enough population and the number of murders is fairly constant that it isn't really something freakish like Portapique, NS that for one year had a insanely high homicide rate per 100,000.

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by Acajack

It doesn't look like much in sheer numbers but I've mentioned before that Prince Albert, SK is averaging about 10 murders a year, for a population of only about 35,000.

That's a homicide rate of around 30 per 100,000.

It has enough population and the number of murders is fairly constant that it isn't really something freakish like Portapique, NS that for one year had a insanely high homicide rate per 100,000.

Yeah that is pretty bad. Some of these prairie cities have real issues.

I remember reading somewhere that Haifax, NS had 29 homicides in 1992. That's pretty bad for a city of 300,000. I could be wrong about that, but I remember reading that somewhere.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Acajack

It doesn't look like much in sheer numbers but I've mentioned before that Prince Albert, SK is averaging about 10 murders a year, for a population of only about 35,000.

Sounds almost El-Salvadorian.

[kwoldtimer]

Puchica!

And I think it’s “Salvadoran”.

[Acajack]

Toronto 26
Montreal 9

[biguc]

Originally Posted by Acajack

It doesn't look like much in sheer numbers but I've mentioned before that Prince Albert, SK is averaging about 10 murders a year, for a population of only about 35,000.

That's a homicide rate of around 30 per 100,000.

It has enough population and the number of murders is fairly constant that it isn't really something freakish like Portapique, NS that for one year had a insanely high homicide rate per 100,000.

That's really, really terrible. It's the story of Western Canada.

Part of what makes Winnipeg's current rate so bad is that the murder rate was moving in the right direction.



Only 22 in 2018! By May 25, 2019 (aka pre-covid) they were already up to 18. And that wasn't a one-off year like 2011. They've exceeded that number every year since. Winnipeg has managed to double its murder rate over three years, and it's sustaining further growth. That's unacceptable.

[Acajack]

It's always been high by Canadian standards in Prairie cities, with the exception of Calgary most of the time.

SW BC was also on the high side but dropped quite a bit for a couple of decades before starting to tick back upwards very recently.

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by biguc

Only 22 in 2018!

Yeah 22 is better than 40, but still pretty high for a city this size. How does that compare to Quebec city, Hamilton, Ottawa, Mississagua, Edmonton etc etc???

[drew]

Originally Posted by biguc

That's unacceptable.

It just highlights where the most striking poverty in Canada exists. It should be no surprise that poverty goes hand in hand with higher murder/crime rates.

It is also a hard thing for a city like Winnipeg to address.

It is no secret that poverty, especially in Winnipeg, is linked disproportionately to First Nations.

A direct line for this poverty can be drawn to the reserves within this province.

Reserves and all the policies, both current and historical, that bring us to where we are, are the absolute domain of the Federal Government. And remain that way today.

Cities are generally powerless to address the causes of this poverty, but suffer the results. It is has been easy for these issues to be overlooked or ignored by the Federal government - based on geography and the relative lack of political clout in a city like Winnipeg, Regina or Saskatoon.

It's easy to go "tsk tsk Winnipeg, get your shit together". We are the public face of a national problem.

It should be "tsk tsk Ottawa, get your shit together".

[esquire]

^ Well put. Western Canadian cities continue to pay a disproportionately severe price for longstanding federal policies dating back to the 19th century.

[biguc]

I agree. But Ottawa never did anything about it. The recent doubling in murder rates is because local and provincial (especially provincial) leaders have also abdicated their responsibilities in doing anything about it. Everyone needs to be on board to make this right.

[drew]

Provincial policies are powerless on a reserve and would have no jurisdiction.

It is always still putting a bandaid on a wound that is rotting from the inside.

I am not trying to absolve Cities and provincial governments of their roles - but you need to clear that the real power for change is at the Federal level.

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by drew

Provincial policies are powerless on a reserve and would have no jurisdiction.

It is always still putting a bandaid on a wound that is rotting from the inside.

I am not trying to absolve Cities and provincial governments of their roles - but you need to clear that the real power for change is at the Federal level.

What exactly do you want the federal government to do? reserves already recieve a good amount of money. I would say the real issue is the leadership on reserves. I hear what your saying but If people wait on the federal government to improve things nothing will ever get done.

As far as poverty on the prairies, I would say Sask and MB are doing much better economically than the maritimes.

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by biguc

I agree. But Ottawa never did anything about it. The recent doubling in murder rates is because local and provincial (especially provincial) leaders have also abdicated their responsibilities in doing anything about it. Everyone needs to be on board to make this right.

Yah on reserve is a federal issue but as was discussed the Provincial Gov ,Especially here have abdicated or outright refused to look at the issues. And In the case here have actually cut the services that could help. Preferring to have religious based groups try to run the programs. As been pointed out to me many times by people I meet when volunteering for a social group is The great distrust in any religious group running programs. They have a tendency to victim blame. Or make them PRAY to get better.

The reserve system is an issue in some locales. Finding work for anyone in rural or remote areas is extremely difficult unless there are Natural resource to exploit. So those problems move to the cities. I know federal money flows to the cities to help but they are supposed to be matched by provincial funds.

the company I work for does a vast majority of its work with FNs. There is a lot of great work happening on some reserves but there is not consistency. with programing in any province.

Anyway need to step down from my soap box and get to work , Have a great safe day everyone.

[thebasketballgeek]

Legalizing/Decriminalizing drugs has to be part of the equation.

The infrastructure and built space itself is also crucial. If an area is full of homeless people in bus shelters, chain fences, boarded up windows, and shattered glass chances are the alarm bells ring and people sense a looming threat of danger nearby. I was walking through the West End today near U of W and man is it in rough shape. Very charming neighborhood with loads of character, but I just wouldn’t feel safe walking at night.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by drew

It just highlights where the most striking poverty in Canada exists. It should be no surprise that poverty goes hand in hand with higher murder/crime rates.

.

It does and it doesn't. Look at Newfoundland and certain parts of the Maritimes.

I generally agree with the rest of your post. It's not so much poverty in general, but rather poverty that affects identifiable groups of people in an otherwise reasonably affluent place.