The number of youths under age 18 charged or accused of murder in 2022 was nearly three times that of the previous year, according to Statistics Canada.
The Nov. 29 report, which details homicide investigation trends across the country, notes the number of cases involving multiple youths has been increasing over the last several years.
“In 2022, police reported 19 incidents with two or more youths accused of homicide, compared with an average of five incidents in the previous 10 years,” the report said. “There were seven incidents with three or more youths accused of homicide in 2022, compared with an average of one incident in the previous 10 years.”
Additionally, StatCan said homicide trends have shown that nearly one in six murders have been witnessed by a child or youth since the collection of this information began four years ago. The majority of these cases—59 percent—are homicides that occur within a home.
On Jan. 24, four 13-year-old boys were charged with assault after Toronto Transit Commission employees were attacked. In another case, eight girls aged 13 to 16 were charged with second-degree murder in the death of Ken Lee, 59. They were accused of allegedly beating and stabbing Mr. Lee to death in a swarm on Dec. 18, 2022, reportedly to steal his bottle of alcohol.
Homicides Increasing in Canada
Statistics Canada notes that the overall homicide rate increased by eight percent in 2022. It’s the fourth consecutive increase in the murder rate, which is now 2.25 homicides per 100,000 people.“The homicide rate is widely considered a key metric for assessing the state of violence in society,” the report authors said.
“Despite recent increases, homicides remain a rare event in Canada, accounting for less than 0.2 percent of all police-reported violent crimes in 2022.”
Manitoba saw the largest increase in homicides in 2022 going from 4.45 to 6.24 per 100,000 people—a 40 percent increase.
New Brunswick saw a 33 percent jump in its homicide rate in 2022, with 1.85 murders for every 100,000 people. British Columbia also saw a 21 percent increase to 2.91 victims for every 100,000 people. Quebec jumped up 21 percent in its homicide rate to 1.26 murders per 100,000 people.
Provinces with the lowest murder rates are Prince Edward Island (0.00/100,000), Newfoundland and Labrador (0.57/100,000), and Quebec (1.26/100,000).
According to the report, guns were involved in roughly 41 percent of murder cases in the country, which is slightly higher than in 2021 when firearms were involved in 40 percent of cases.
Twenty-three percent of murders in Canada are gang-related, the report said, adding that gang-related homicides committed with a firearm represented 18 percent of all homicides last year.
Five police officers were killed in 2022; the highest number since 1985, and above the 10-year average of two officers.
Indigenous Homicide Rate
The report also noted a slight increase in the number of indigenous victims of homicide. In 2022, 225 indigenous individuals were murdered, which represents about 27 percent of all homicide victims. In 2021, indigenous victims represented 24 percent of total homicides.“The rate of homicide involving Indigenous victims remained disproportionately high, with 10.98 victims per 100,000 Indigenous people. This was more than six times the homicide rate of non-Indigenous people (1.69 per 100,000),” the authors wrote.
There has also been a high number of “racialized people” who were victims of homicide, the report says.
“In 2022, 265 homicide victims were identified by the police as being racialized people, representing 30 percent of the 874 reported homicide victims,” said the document.
Forty-three percent of those were black and 27 percent were South Asian, StatCan said.
