Region ranks as one of the lowest for homicides in Canada
Posted Feb 15, 2023 11:00:00 AM.
As homicide rates across Canada are rising, Waterloo Region has reported one of the lowest for metropolitan areas with over 500,000 residents.
According to a report released by police, in 2021 there were only two reported homicides in the region, this is down from seven the previous year. The region currently has a rate of 0.33 for every 100,000 residents; the national average is 2.06.
The most popular method of homicide in Canada is the use of firearms. Cities all over the country are reporting a higher volume of shooting deaths than ever before, with handguns being the main choice for criminals. Waterloo Region, on the other hand, had a total of zero shooting deaths in all of 2021.
The report also states that men are most likely to be victims of homicide in Canada, notably Indigenous men. Indigenous women rank second as the group most affected by homicide in the country.
“Indigenous persons were more likely to be victims of homicide, with 9.17 Indigenous victims per 100,000 versus 1.55 non-Indigenous victims per 100,000 in 2021,” wrote the police report.
With this new wave of crime, signs of organized and gang related violence has soared. WRPS are seeing a huge increase in the amount of organized gangs committing armed robberies in the region. This increase includes gang related homicide, but Waterloo Region has yet again reported far below the national average, with a total of zero.
“In 2021, gang-related homicides have reached its peak at 184 gang-related homicides or 0.48 per 100,000 since the data was first collected in 2005,” reads the report.
“Gang-related homicides have traditionally been uncommon within the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo CMA, ranking 20th nationally and 10th provincially.”
Waterloo Region is one of the largest metropolitan areas with the lowest homicide rates of anywhere in the country.
Data for last year has not been released by Statistics Canada, but in 2022, WRPS have identified at least four homicides in the region, doubling the 2021 data.
Even with this increase, the region still sits below the national average.
