Quebec’s violent gun crime rate below other provinces
Posted January 31, 2024 8:28 am.
Last Updated January 31, 2024 11:33 am.
Canada’s violent gun crime rate rose by 8.9 per cent in 2022, making it the highest rate since they began keeping statistics in 2009, but Quebec remained below the Canadian average.
The Canadian rate of violent gun crime stood at 36.7 incidents per 100,000 people in 2022.
The rise was mainly due to large increases in the number of incidents in Ontario (up by 24 per cent), New Brunswick (up by 24 per cent) and British Columbia (up by 12 per cent).
However, in Quebec, they number of incidents only declined by 1.3 per cent, but its rate of 24.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants places them third lowest, behind Prince Edward Island (10) and Newfoundland and Labrador (22.8).
According to Statistics Canada, the rate of violent gun crimes has been on the rise since 2013.
In Quebec, the rate had risen between 2009 and 2011, when it peaked at just under 35 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, then dropped steadily to 20 from 2016 to 2019. It rose again over the following two years, reaching 25.1 in 2021, before falling back to 24.8 the following year.
New Brunswick, meanwhile, has seen its rate rise steadily since 2015 to stand at 40.6 cases of violent gun crime per 100,000 population in 2022, making it the highest rate since data collection began.
But among the provinces, Saskatchewan has the worst record, with 109.6 cases per 100,000 population, despite a 7 per cent drop compared to 2021.
Although high, these figures don’t compare to the Northwest Territories (230.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, up 8.2 per cent) and Nunavut (182.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, down 22.9 per cent).
Toronto saw a 36 per cent increase over the previous year, with a rate of 43.2 cases per 100,000 people.
Montreal’s rate is 28 per 100,000 people, which is a slight increase of 0.4 per cent over 2021.
In Vancouver, the rate (23.6 incidents per 100,000 people) was 24 per cent higher than in 2021.
Unlike violent crime in general, where most victims, 53 per cent, were women, violent gun crime in 2022 targeted mostly men at 66 per cent.
This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews.
