Homicides in Toronto

I remember speaking to a friend of mine in London, UK earlier this year, she was very concerned with the murders that were taking place all over the city. I have to admit I was also concerned when I used to live there, and I remember seeing the murder rates compared to other cities in Europe and thinking...wow, things are really bad in London.

Even recent statistics are terrifying, with Knife Attacks occurring every four minutes, you've got to admit, it does sound very scary. The Sun reports that there have been 24 murders so far this year in London alone.

Then there's Toronto. I recall my friend saying "well at least it's safer in Toronto" and I remember having the same perception as hers. A peaceful, safe city without all the problems that beseech its neighbour immediately to the south. How naive I was. Research has shown that Toronto had 84 killings in 2007, 42 of the murders were shootings, 22 were stabbings, and 14 were caused by trauma (blunt force). The cause of six murders was either unknown or unreleased as of January 2, 2008. All this in a city with barely 3 million people... London has approximately 10 million people, go figure.

To date, in 2008 there have been 49 kilings as reported by CBC, a popular news broadcasting station in Toronto.

Seven murders took place days after Statistics Canada named Toronto as Canada's Safest City among urban areas with a population of 500,000 or more. A fact that few Toronto residents can stomach easily. I mean c'mon, we're halfway through the year, have 48 homicides, and now we're being branded the "safest city" in Canada! How bad are these other cities?!? Apparently, Winnipeg had the highest crime rate, followed by Edmonton.

Drive-by shootings, triple homicides, stabbings, trauma, you name it, we've got it in Toronto. So Londoners, if you think you got it bad, take a look at oh so peaceful Toronto....the grass is not always greener on the other side.