Canada’s most dangerous cities: homicide

Seven murders gave the city top spot in 2010, well above the national rate

by macleans.ca on Thursday, December 15, 2011 5:55am - 12 Comments

Most likely to be murderedPrince George, British Columbia

Seven murders gave the city top spot in 2010, well above the national rate. Prince George, B.C., consistently has a high homicide rate: in 2009, its rate was 121 per cent above the national rate, exactly where it was in 2000.

Worst cities (% higher than national average)

1. Prince George, B.C. (486%)

2. Wood Buffalo, Alta (202%)

3. Saskatoon (168%)

4. Thunder Bay, Ont. (163%)

5. Regina (148%)

Best cities* (% lower than national average)

1. Joliette, Que. (100%)

2. Sarnia, Ont. (100%)

3. Windsor, Ont. (100%)

4. Red Deer, Alta. (100%)

5. Richmond, B.C. (100%)

*38 cities reported zero murders in 2010

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  • Hornby_77

    What a bull shit study this is.. PG is hard as fuck but no where near Vancouver or other cities. Pull your head outta your ass McLean’s..

    • Frib

      Have you been to Prince George lately? The gangs have taken over.

      • Wolfman

        I guess you never been to Winnipeg before?

  • smoke

    ha 7 murders gave it top spot. Toronto has like 100 murders a year, a shit load more people tho to.

    • Steve L

      way off for Toronto. More like 50-60 every year, a bit higher several years ago when gangs were a bigger problem

  • Ron Veigh

    What absolute trash.    Suppose you have a little hamlet of 100 people and a wife murders her husband leaving an average murder rate of 1000 per 100,000.   I’d stay the hell out of there because this is definately the most dangerous place in Canada.   Give me a break tarring those poor folks in Prince George with such a dispicable moniker.   You guys should hang your head in shame for such poor research.  

    I’ve always hated your magazine I find it boring now I have another reason to never buy it . 

  • Jersey

    lol… that’s why the media is so influential for they take the doom and gloom approach. They can take an average number and make it seem so drastic. Media thrives on scare tactics. Almost a form of terrorism in my mind. 

  • Pisti apu

    RCMP’s don’t care policies, are
    responsible for most murders.

    My wife called the police one o’clock
    at night, and said “she is home alone with two kids, and there are
    a bunch of drunk people in our back yard, and she is scared”. The
    women at the office suggested to her to go out and try to chase them
    away. RCMP officers newer showed up. According to one of the officer
    couple days later he said they were busy, they were trying to catch
    drunk drivers on the road.

    We had arsons, gun shuts rock trowing,
    with no investigation. One of the riot, 40 people destroying private
    property, no proper investigation. Police officer arrested and later
    charged the land owner, as he said “it is for your own good to
    protect you from the violent crowd”. One of the officer stole my
    evidence in our kitchen, a film from my camera… RCMP Commission
    offered absolutely no help.

    These are only a few problems we
    experienced in this small to of Northern British Columbia. Finally we
    had to move to be free of all harassment.

    NO MURDER, MEANS NO MONNEY FOR THE RCMP
    AND OUR POOR LAWYERS.

  • fltsimguy

    These are statistics, straight number counts and therefore actually do not reflect a proper analysis.  A Statistician would have an easy time refuting these numbers and their meaning.  Unless the results undergo proper statistical analysis, weighted averages, analysis of variance they are stupid and meaningless.

    Surely MacLeans can hire a proper statistician to provide meaningful information.

    For heaven’s sake Victoria BC is full of old grandma’s and great grandma’s with English accents, and yet it shows up as high for violent and non violent crime….give me a break.

  • Gofuckyourself

    Well Winnipeg is up to 39 murders so where do they get their info from Winnipeg is the worst city so they better get it right.

  • Homer

    This is ridiculous.  As many others have pointed out, the fragmented cities of  Greater Victoria and Greater Vancouver can’t be measured individually.  You have to look at the metropolitan area as a whole.  Comparing the city of Victoria (which is really only the downtown hub for a metropolitan area of 350,000 people) with the 2.7 million residents of Toronto is so stupid, it’s hardly worthy of comment.

    Also, those areas with active gangs appear more dangerous than they really are.  Gang members mostly shoot each other, not the general population.

    Finally, when it comes to homicides, a few isolated incidents can easily skew the statistics of smaller centres.  When the average rate across Canada is 1 in 60,000 then a single incident involving 2 victims in a small city can leave that city with a homicide rate that is twice the national average.

    C’mon MacLeans!  You’re capable of more intelligent analysis than this!!

  • Reimer-c1

    Edmonton, Alberta had more homicides in 2010 then Prince George.  Who knows how they come up with their info.

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