Life in Canada

Homicides up 7% in Canada
Most of the increase in 2011 was accounted for by two provinces: Alberta, which had 32 additional homicides, and Quebec, which had 21 more. The homicide rate in Ontario, which had 28 fewer homicides compared with 2010, reached its lowest point since 1966.

Among the provinces, Manitoba reported the highest homicide rate for the fifth year in a row, followed by Saskatchewan and Alberta.

The census metropolitan area (CMA) of Winnipeg, where police reported 39 homicides in 2011, had the highest rate among Canada's CMAs, followed by Halifax and Edmonton. Homicide rates in Winnipeg and Halifax were the highest recorded in those CMAs since data became available for CMAs in 1981.