Flush out fake news, check politicians’ statements, find the real numbers: our Bureau of Investigation, based in Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa, specializes in the art of establishing the facts. Every Saturday, our journalists and researchers present their findings to you to allow you to see more clearly in the news of the week.
THE STATEMENT
Thursday, interview with Paul Larocque on the show The balance sheet on TVA, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said that “there are 30% fewer shots than last year at the same date. »
FACTS
Mme Plant is wrong. It is based on a report by The Press which reports a 30% decrease in gunfire incidents occurring on the territory of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal, but only for the months of June to September. When we take all the events of the first 10 months of 2022 and compare them to the statistics for the year 2021, the difference is 22% less. And this does not include the months of November and December of this year.
The number of firearm discharges without victims is about 25% lower in 2022 than in 2021. In terms of attempted murders by firearms, there are 17% fewer this year compared to last year. year, and 12% fewer murders by firearm.
We will have to wait until January to do a full assessment and see if there is a real downward trend for the last months of the year.
Looking at the number of firearm incidents for previous years, we see that 2022 has already greatly exceeded the tolls for 2019 and 2020, which were 84 and 133 respectively.
Here is a summary of the number of homicides, attempted murders and discharges of firearms in Montreal.
2019: 84
2020: 133
2021: 213
2022: 166*
Source: SPVM.
*As of October 31, 2022