Statistics Canada Report on Trends in Firearm-related Violent Crime in Canada

Statistics Canada recently published an article in Juristat entitled Trends in firearm-related violent crime in Canada, 2009 to 2020.

It offers a detailed examination of police-reported firearm-related violent crime in Canada, drawing on data from the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey and the Homicide Survey. It also includes differences in firearm-related violent crime in urban areas compared with southern and northern rural regions of Canada.

Among the highlights:

• Firearm-related violent crime represents a small proportion of police-reported violent crime in Canada, accounting for 2.8% of all victims of violent crime reported by police in 2020.
• In 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 8,344 victims of police-reported violent crime where a firearm was present during the commission of the offence, or a rate of 29 per 100,000 population. This rate was unchanged compared to 2019. This was not the case in all jurisdictions, however, as rates of firearm-related violent crime increased in some areas and decreased in others.
• Between 2019 and 2020, notable increases in rates of firearm-related violent crime were reported in southern rural British Columbia (+34%), the northern rural part of Ontario (+32%), rural Alberta (+32% in the North and +31% in the South), the Northwest Territories (+23%) and Nova Scotia (+22%).
• Between 2009 and 2013 the rate of victims of firearm-related violent crime in Canada decreased, which aligned with violent crime trends overall. However, rates of victims of firearm-related violent crime started an upward climb in 2014, with the largest documented increase between 2014 and 2015. 
• This article examines firearm-related violent crime in the two six-year periods before and after the notable increase in 2015 (between 2009 to 2014 and 2015 to 2020) and shows that the increase occurred in most jurisdictions in Canada.
• Much of the increase in the rate of firearm-related crime between the two six-year periods was the result of a significant increase in the rate of firearm-specific violent offences of discharging a firearm with intent, pointing a firearm, and use of a firearm in an indictable offence.
• Rates of firearm-related violent crime were higher in rural areas than in urban centres in most provinces, and were notably high in northern rural regions. However, firearm-related crime generally accounted for a higher proportion of violent crime in urban areas. As such, people living in some rural areas may be more at risk of firearm crime, but violent crime that occurs in urban areas is generally more likely to involve a firearm. 
• In 2020, more than six in ten (63%) of the firearm-related violent crime in urban areas involved handguns. In rural areas, the firearm present was most commonly a rifle or shotgun: 46% in the rural South and 39% in the rural North.
• The accused in firearm-related violent crimes was most frequently a stranger to the victim in 2020 (for 55% of male victims and 41% of female victims). This was driven, however, by firearm-related violent crime in urban areas.
• Overall, one in four (25%) female victims of firearm-related violent crime was victimized by a current or former spouse or other intimate partner. In contrast, 2.2% of male victims of firearm-related violent crime in 2020 were similarly victims of intimate partner violence. Instead, among victims, a higher proportion of males were victimized by a stranger, friend or casual acquaintance (83% versus 64% of females).
• The majority of incidents involving a victim of firearm-related violent crime were solved (with at least one accused identified in the incident), with those in the rural North (83% in 2020) and rural South (72%) more often solved than those in urban areas (54%).