2022 marked an increase in murders in B.C.: StatsCan

A sign of the statistics Canada office in Ottawa.
Signage mark the Statistics Canada offiices in Ottawa on July 21, 2010. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

By Michael Williams and James Paracy

Posted November 29, 2023 8:51 pm.

The murder rate in B.C. spiked significantly in 2022, according to new data from Statistics Canada.

Collected data shows there were 155 homicides in B.C. in 2022. That total is 30 more than in 2021 and 55 more than in 2020.

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Of those homicides, 73 of them were in Vancouver — the second most of any city in Canada. Murders have steadily risen in Vancouver over the last two years, as there were 46 in 2022 and 60 recorded in 2021.

Toronto saw the most homicides, leading the country with 136.

Across Canada, the overall homicide rate rose by eight per cent in 2022 with a total of 874 — another increase over the last two years, as there were 764 recorded in 2020 and 796 in 2021.

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