Report Shows Sharp Increase in Violent Crime Across Canada’s Largest Cities
Violent crime is on the rise in several major Canadian cities, with sexual assault rates seeing the biggest increase over both short and long terms, as per a recent report.
Sexual assault cases went up in eight of nine major cities in the past seven years, with Ottawa being the only exception, according to a study by the Macdonald Laurier Institute (MLI). The incidents of sexual assault have been rising since 2016 in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Peel, Ont., and York, Ont., with the latter nearly doubling from 2016 to 2023.
“In recent years, there has been a surge in violent crime across Canada as a whole,” states the report produced by Dave Snow and Rickard Audas, senior fellows at MLI. “We found that violent crime was increasing in many cities in the short-term, notably for sexual assaults and robberies.”
Winnipeg and Edmonton reported the highest number of sexual assault cases over the seven-year period. In 2023, Edmonton had a sexual assault rate of 108.64 cases per 100,000 people, while Winnipeg saw a rate of 107.76. Toronto followed with 97.8 cases.
On the contrary, the rate in Peel was 52.15 cases last year, the lowest among all major cities.
The study aimed to analyze crime trends at a local level. To do so, the authors examined 10 years of police-reported violent crime records from nine major cities, which they say represent a third of the Canadian population.
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Four crime categories were considered: homicide, aggravated assault, sexual assault, and robbery. They excluded Vancouver data on sexual assault due to reporting discrepancies, they remarked.
Winnipeg: Highest Robbery Rates
The robbery rate in Manitoba’s capital was almost triple that of all other major cities last year, at 305.82 cases per 100,000 population, according to the report. The rate has gone up by over 50 percent since 2016, slightly decreasing from 2019 to 2021, and reaching a peak in 2023.
The authors highlighted that the rate decrease coincided with the years of pandemic lockdowns.
Edmonton had the second-highest robbery rate last year, with less than half that of Winnipeg, at 106.01 cases per 100,000 population. Alberta’s capital had the second-highest rate over the whole period, with Montreal and Toronto closely following in recent years.
On the other hand, York reported the lowest robbery rates since 2016 among all major cities, at 31.66 cases last year. Ottawa and Peel also had lower rates compared to other cities.
Edmonton: Highest Rates of Aggravated Assault
According to the report, Edmonton’s aggravated assault rate in 2023 was more than four times that of any other major Canadian city except Winnipeg, standing at 38.72 incidents per 100,000 population compared to Winnipeg’s 22.81.
Aggravated assault involves injuring, maiming, disfiguring, or endangering someone’s life, according to the Criminal Code of Canada.
Edmonton had the highest aggravated assault rate from 2016 to 2023, steadily increasing over the past decade, as outlined in the study. Winnipeg had the second-highest rates during the study period.
Despite being Canada’s largest city, Toronto witnessed “a notable decline” in its aggravated assault rate over the last decade, with 8.29 cases in 2023.
York had the lowest rates since 2016, followed by Peel and Montreal.
