Crime in Canada is a growth industry. There is a reason why people still call it the wild west.
A 2009 Maclean’s magazine story reported that the most dangerous city in Canada was my hometown of Saskatoon. Winnipeg, Regina, Prince George, B.C., and Edmonton closely followed.
Statistics Canada keeps track of criminal homicides by province. In 2008, Ontario led the way with 176 homicides. Alberta had 110, Saskatchewan 30 and Manitoba 54.
Ontario has more than 13 million people, Alberta has 3.7 million, Saskatchewan one million, and Manitoba 1.2 million.
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By population, Ontario should have 13 times the number of criminal homicides as Saskatchewan or Manitoba – about 390 homicides. Ontario’s rate is less than half that number.
The homicide rate in the prairie provinces is disproportionate to population base. Something is happening out here.
It’s not just violent crime. In Canada, property crime occurs more frequently than violent crime at a ratio of about five to one.
Since 1962, crime against property with or without violence has grown steadily, having nearly quadrupled in 40 years.
In 1996, an international survey was done of all crimes, determining what percent of populations in different countries had been victims of any type of crime the previous year.
Canada’s statistic was about 25 percent. The United States was lower, but not by much at 24 percent. Northern Ireland was about 17 percent, but England and Wales came in at 31percent.
We cannot be smug about being safer than Americans. While there is a higher incidence of violent crime down there, especially with guns, the rates are changing. From 1991 to 2004, the murder rate in Canada declined by 36 percent. However, the U.S. murder rate declined by 44 percent for the same period.
It means Canada is changing. There is less respect for law and order and a growing trend toward doing whatever suits a person, regardless of the law.
Your home is certainly no longer your castle, as crimes against property such as home invasions occur at a rate that would have been unthinkable and unbelievable when I was a kid.
The Fraser Institute has conducted extensive reviews in this area and has concluded that, compared to the number of crimes in 1962, there are 400 percent more violent crimes per person and 300 percent more property crimes per person in Canada today.
Canada is growing in population, but that population is shifting toward urban society. Rural Canada is growing more isolated. With more citizens concentrated in our larger towns and cities, we can expect our rates of crime to keep increasing.
It should concern everyone in Canada. I’m not suggesting that we need to crack down on crime. I think the problem arises well before people hit the criminal justice system.
We need to look at violent and criminal segments of our society and determine how they got that way and what needs to be done to solve those problems before they become criminals.
Rick Danyliuk is a lawyer with McDougall Gauley LLP in Saskatoon.
