Nearly 9 per cent increase of firearms crimes in Canada: report

Firearm-related crimes rising in Canada: StatCan CTV News' Tony Grace discusses new data from Statistics Canada over the rapid rate of firearm-related deaths across Canada.

Violent crimes involving a firearm in Canada are increasing, a new report by Statistics Canada suggests.

According to the agency, there was an 8.9 per cent increase in firearm-related violent crimes per 100,000 people in 2022.

"The 2022 rate of firearm-related violent crime is the highest since comparable data were first compiled in 2009," the report published on Tuesday reads.

StatCan is using the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey and the Homicide Survey for its analysis.

Ontario gun crimes part of the issue

The spike in firearm-related violent crimes in Canada in 2022 is driven by increases in Ontario, the report notes.

According to the data, police in the province reported 4,791 firearm violent crimes in 2022, which is 1,016 more than the previous year.

This accounts for 70 per cent of the increases in incidents across Canada.

Although StatCan says the crimes in Toronto were "especially high", almost all cities saw firearm-related violent crime increases.

The province's capital city saw a three-year decline in these crimes until 2022, the report notes, when 2,576 crimes were reported.

"As a result, the 2022 rate (43.2 incidents per 100,000 population) was 36 per cent higher than in 2021," the report reads.

Greater Sudbury (65 per cent), Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo (53 per cent) and Brantford (39 per cent) also had "bigger" increases in firearm-related violent crimes, the data shows.

What province, territory has the highest gun crime?

Alberta and British Columbia also contributed to the increases in firearm crimes in Canada.

B.C. police noted almost 1,500 more crimes involving firearms in 2022, about 200 more than in 2021.

"The rate (28.0 incidents per 100,000 population) was up 12 per cent from 2021, but remains one of the lowest rates among the provinces and territories," the report says.

Abbotsford-Mission (72 per cent), Victoria (63 per cent) and Vancouver (24 per cent) had were the areas with "significant" increases.

In 2022, police in Alberta noted 200 more firearm-related violent crimes than in 2021.

"As in Ontario and British Columbia, this increase was mostly driven by the largest urban centres," the report reads.

Edmonton had a crime rate increase of 22 per cent and Calgary saw a 5.1 per cent rise.

Comparing provinces, Saskatchewan continued to be the province with the highest rate of firearm-related violent crimes in 2022, despite the data showing a 7 per cent decrease from the year prior.

"Among the country's census metropolitan areas (CMAs), Regina posted the highest rate (83.0) and percentage (7.0 per cent) of firearm-related violent crime," the report reads.

The rate of these incidents in New Brunswick was up 24 per cent — the second highest increase among provinces and territories.

Moncton, in particular, had a large increase of 46 per cent from 2021 to 2022.

Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Yukon and P.E.I. saw a small rise of incidents from 2021.

An increasing trend

Since 2013, firearm-related violent crime has "generally" been increasing, StatCan says.

According to the data, these crimes have increased 55 per cent, which is larger than the increase in violent crime with a rate of 24 per cent.

"Although the increase in firearm-related violent crime from 2021 to 2022 was mostly driven by increases in urban areas in the Provincial South, it was rural and northern regions that largely contributed to the increase from 2013 to 2022," the report reads.

An example of this, StatCan notes, is the 141 per cent increase in these crimes in the Provincial North and 139 per cent increase in the territories.

During this time, southern urban areas had a 45 per cent increase, the agency says.

In this period, specific violent crimes, like discharging a firearm with intent, pointing a firearm and using a firearm during an offence, rose 120 per cent across Canada.

This jump is due to an increase in incidents of discharging a firearm with intent, which has more than tripled (244 per cent) from 2013 to 2022.

Crimes with all weapons types have risen, with handguns (50 per cent), rifles or shotguns (45 per cent) and fully automatic firearms (35 per cent) seeing double-digit increases.

However, the largest increase in weapon types seen between 2013 and 2022 was the "unknown type of firearm" category, which saw a 76 per cent increase.