Firearm homicide rate highest since 1992
EDMONTON • New government figures show rural homicides reaching a neardecade high in 2017 and gun slayings nationwide at the highest rate since 1992. It comes as the federal government weighs a ban on handguns, municipal police see jumps in gang violence and, in western Canada, police and politicians try to figure out how to tackle crime rates that have rural residents on edge over threats of theft and violence.
Of the 660 homicides identified in Statistics Canada’s 2017 crime report, based on police reports, just shy of a quarter — 148 — were in rural areas, even though rural dwellers represent just 16 per cent of the population. Rural homicides spiked by 36 between 2016 and 2017. “This was the highest rural homicide rate since 2009, the earliest year for which urban/ rural data are available,” the report said.
Despite these numbers, there’s little reason for most Canadians to worry, said Christian Leuprecht, a professor of policy studies at the Royal Military College and Queen’s University. “While the violence might seem high, or relatively high, most of this violence is not random,” Leuprecht said.
The data bear that out — four out of five victims knew their killer, the report said. In Alberta, where rural crime — especially property crime — has been a specific concern of residents and the New Democratic government, there has been a specific rural crime strategy since March 2018 that, for example, adds civilian analysts to detachments to save officers time and includes new police officers. “Certainly, some of the things we’re doing are going to help with all crime types,” said Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley. “Ensuring that we have more police officers, and then ensuring that those police officers are able to focus on serious and violent crimes rather than minor … will have an impact.” The 2017 statistics show the highest rate of homicides in Canada in nearly a decade, fuelled by increased firearm use and gang violence, the report suggested.
There were 512 homicides in urban areas in 2017. The rate of rural homicide was 45 per cent higher than in urban areas, and, while homicide rates jumped in both, the spike was far more pronounced in rural areas: a 31 per cent increase from 2016 compared to a one per cent increase in urban areas. Still, urban homicides outpaced rural homicides, even in the West where homicide rates were highest. In Alberta, there were 92 urban homicides, compared to 26 in rural areas; in Manitoba it was 28 in urban areas, 19 in rural; and British Columbia had 106 urban homicides versus 12 rural homicides. The exceptions were Saskatchewan, with 16 homicides in urban areas and 21 in rural districts, and New Brunswick, with three urban homicides and seven rural homicides.
Much of the rise in homicide rates was driven by British Columbia and Quebec, which had 93 victims, up by 26. Ontario, with 196 victims, dropped by 10 between 2016 and 2017, and Saskatchewan dropped 17, from 54 to 37. About 40 per cent of all killings were with a firearm in 2017. Since the 1990s, handguns have been used more frequently in homicides; prior to 1990, Statistics Canada said, shotguns and rifles were used “far more frequently.” In 2017, handguns accounted for six in 10 homicides.
Here, too, there’s a divide between rural and urban areas. The “firearm-related” homicide rate was 16 per cent higher in rural areas, versus urban, in 2017. But then, the style of gun tends to differ: 66 per cent of all rural gun homicides were committed with a rifle or shotgun, in contrast to 63 per cent with a handgun in urban areas.
In the provinces and territory where there were increases in rural homicides — Nova Scotia, Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia, New Brunswick and Nunavut — Statistics Canada attributed it to increases in gun and gang violence, with the exception of Ontario. “The increase in Ontario was mostly the result of an increase in the number of stabbings,” StatCan said in the report.
Leuprecht said the rural numbers didn’t surprise him. Rates of gun ownership are higher in rural Canada, and historically, most Mounties killed in the line of duty die in rural areas.
“There’s a disproportionate number of shootings in rural Canada,” Leuprecht said. “It’s sort of the outcome that we would expect.”