The city of Sherbrooke is the only large Canadian city that recorded no homicides in 2022.
The 2022 data on homicides published by Statistics Canada on Wednesday shows that Reine de l’Estrie is the only one among the 36 Canadian cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants to have been spared this type of violence last year. .
“It’s a pleasant surprise, but at the same time we try not to take it too much for granted,” responded the deputy mayor of Sherbrooke, Raïs Kibonge, when contacted by The Canadian Press.
Mr. Kibonge knows full well that his city has had its difficulties in the past with organized crime, in this case the Hells Angels, who were well established there in a bunker, abandoned since 2009 and demolished in 2021. ” I don’t know if it’s the passage of time or the work of different police departments, but apparently we’ve become less interesting territory. Organized crime had to migrate a little elsewhere, where it found a way to really hide better! »
Quebec very well ranked
When measured in terms of homicide rate, or the number of homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, the city of Gatineau comes third, with a rate of 0.58.
Quebec City comes in fourth place with a rate of 0.60 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. If we narrow the comparisons to the 12 Canadian cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants, the Old Capital ranks second, behind Oshawa (0.57), but far ahead of the others.
Montreal ranks in the middle of the pack of cities with more than half a million inhabitants with a rate of 1.49 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, but the metropolis remains well below the Canadian national rate, which stands at 2 .25.
As for the two other Quebec cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, both Saguenay (1.16) and Trois-Rivières (1.82) are well below the Canadian average.
Quebec also does well overall, systematically ranking second or third among the provinces and territories every year, posting a rate of 1.26 in 2022. However, even if it retains third place, it is still a significant increase of 21% compared to the previous year.
Zero also for Prince Edward Island
As for New Brunswick, the province saw an increase of 33%, the second largest in the country, but its rate of 1.85 still places it in fourth place. The city of Moncton also ranks very well, its rate of 1.11 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants placing it ninth out of 36 Canadian cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.
It should be noted that Prince Edward Island ranks first provincially, also having a rate of zero homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, but as there are no cities or metropolitan areas with more than 100,000 inhabitants there. , its capital, Charlottetown, escapes the ranking of Canadian cities, although it has achieved the same feat as Sherbrooke.
In contrast, the cities of Thunder Bay, Ontario and Winnipeg, Manitoba have worrying rates of 12.05 and 6.10, respectively. Manitoba also recorded the largest increase in its rate, a jump of 40% compared to that of 2021. The Northwest Territories (6.58), Manitoba (6.24) and Saskatchewan (5 .94) have the highest rates and by far, well above the Canadian average.
Four years of growth
The Canadian rate of 2.25 was also up, 8% compared to 2021 while the country was the scene of 874 homicides during the year and Statistics Canada reports that this is a fourth increase consecutive annual. The federal agency, however, takes care to specify that “despite recent increases, homicides remain a rare event in Canada; they represented less than 0.2% of all police-reported violent crimes in 2022.”
In detail, we note that homicides attributable to gangs (202 homicides, or 0.52 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) greatly contributed to the overall increase in homicides in the country. Under these conditions, it is hardly surprising to note that the number of accused or suspects under the age of 18 increased in 2022. This number almost tripled, in fact, while, among the homicides filed, 90 young people were the accused of a homicide in 2022, compared to 33 in 2021 and an average of 39 over the previous 10 years. The rate of young people accused of homicide in 2022 (1.23 per 100,000 young people) was 2.2 times higher than the average of the previous 10 years (0.56 per 100,000 young people).
Victims: a disproportionate number of Indigenous people
As for victims, a disturbing statistic returns again this year, namely that 225 homicide victims in 2022 were Indigenous, or a little more than a quarter (27%) of homicide victims, a slightly higher proportion than that observed the previous year (24%). The rate of homicides committed against Aboriginal victims was 10.98 victims per 100,000 Aboriginal people. This is a rate more than six times higher than the rate of homicides committed against non-Indigenous people (1.69 per 100,000).
Another disturbing data comes from the report which tells us that in 2022, five police officers were victims of homicide. This is the highest number recorded since 1985, when five police officers were also victims of homicide.
Finally, let us mention that firearms are responsible for 41% of homicides and that, of these, nearly two thirds (63%) were committed using a handgun.