Winnipeg 4th highest homicide rate among big Canadian cities in 2015

WINNIPEG — Winnipeg had the fourth highest homicide rate per capita in Canada for 2015, according to the latest numbers released by Statistics Canada Wednesday.

Although the city ranked in the top five cities, Winnipeg’s homicide rate has gone down over the past years.

There were 22 homicides in 2015 Winnipeg compared to 27 the year before, Statistics Canada numbers showed. In 2015, Winnipeg’s homicide rate was 2.72 homicides per 100,000 population.

Since 2010, Winnipeg has ranked either first or second for homicide rates among major Canadian cities.

Manitoba, however, has the second homicide rate among the provinces at 3.63 homicides per 100,000. Saskatchewan reported the highest homicide rate among provinces with 3.79 victims per 100,000 people.

The homicide numbers show Regina is the country’s homicide capital, at 3.30 homicides per 100,000 population. Brantford, Ont., was the only city to report zero homicides in 2015.

READ MORE: Regina had the highest homicide rate among big Canadian cities in 2015

According to Statistics Canada, there were 604 homicides across Canada reported by police in 2015, 83 more than the previous year. The homicide rate increased by 15 per cent up to 1.68 victims per 100,000 population.

One-quarter of the 604 homicide victims were reported by police as an Indigenous person. In contrast, Indigenous people accounted for about 5 per cent of the Canadian population.

Since the beginning of 2016 there have been 20 homicides in Winnipeg.

With files from Alexa Huffman