In 2020, police reported 743 homicides in Canada, including the 22 victims of the attacks in Nova Scotia who lost their lives in the largest killings in the country’s history, Statistics Canada reported on Thursday.
Last year therefore revealed the highest number of homicides recorded in Canada since 1991. The federal agency recorded 56 more murders compared to 2019.
Police reported 277 homicides committed with a firearm in Canada, 15 more than in 2019. Last year, 49% of these homicides were perpetrated with a handgun.
There were 148 gang-related murders in 2020, 14 fewer than in 2019. This was the largest year-over-year decrease in the gang-related homicide rate since 2013.
Statistics Canada observed that in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the volume and severity of police-reported crime in Canada declined 8%, but homicide rates increased.
The number of spousal homicides declined by nine in Canada in 2020. However, the number of homicides committed by other family members increased by 11 and that committed by intimate partners was seven more.
Moreover, Statistics Canada states that among the 474 solved homicides for which the link between the accused and the victim was declared in 2020, 82% were committed by a person the victim knew.
In 2020, the homicide victim rate was seven times higher for Indigenous people than for non-Indigenous people. The number of Indigenous male victims of homicide increased 24% from 2019 to 163, but the number of Indigenous female victims fell by nine, down for the first time in four years.
Strong increase in Alberta and Nova Scotia
The increase in the number of homicides nationwide is mainly due to sharp increases of 39 in Alberta and 29 in Nova Scotia.
The number of homicide victims fell from 45 to 42 in one year in Montreal, while it increased from 5 to 7 in Quebec City and from 3 to 7 in Gatineau. It declined from 130 to 105 in Toronto, but increased from 41 to 45 in Vancouver.
The increases in the number of murder victims have been particularly strong in Alberta’s two largest cities. The total jumped from 24 to 39 in Calgary and from 32 to 47 in Edmonton.