B.C., Quebec gang, gun violence catapult Canada’s homicide rate to 10-year high

Posted November 21, 2018 10:14 pm.

Last Updated November 22, 2018 7:01 am.

This article is more than 5 years old.

SURREY (NEWS 1130) – Canada’s national homicide rate is the highest it’s been in nearly a decade, largely because of an increase in gang-related violence and shootings — many from B.C. and Quebec.

There were 118 homicides reported in B.C. in 2017, 30 more than the year previous, according to Statistics Canada. Nearly half of Metro Vancouver victims were killed by firearms, and many of them were hand guns. Nationally, there were 660 reported homicides in Canada.

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With guns and gang-violence playing a big role in the increase, some might wonder if banning hand guns is the answer. Sukhi Sandhu with the safety advocacy group ‘Wake up Surrey’ says it’s just one part of what needs to be done.

“It’s about prevention and intervention,” he says. “It’s also about ensuring that our policing authorities such as our gang squad have the required resources and staffing and expertise to carry out their duties.”

Gang-related homicides, Canada, 1997 to 2017 (Statistics Canada)

Wake Up Surrey formed in the wake of a double shooting in Surrey this summer that killed two young boys.

And although Surrey already has a gang squad, Sandhu thinks more needs to be done to tackle gang violence in the city.

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“Politicians need to look at the issue from a different lens, (rather) than what’s going to get us elected, or what’s going to be a catch phrase,” he says. “We cannot enforce our way out of this crisis.”

Across Canada, the national murder rate was 1.8 victims for every 100,000 people in 2017, the highest rate since 2009. That increase is both in urban and rural areas, and StatsCan says its likely related to more gang- and gun-related murders.