Crime in Canada

A nicely nuanced article from Macleans Magazine (Canada's major newsweekly), "The Most Dangerous Cities in Canada."

From the article:

the issues and demographics vary from city to city, but poverty and marginalization, both by race and neighbourhood, are often part of the mix. The top three high-crime communities also have proportionately the largest urban Aboriginal populations of any Canadian cities. ...

In Winnipeg, as elsewhere, gang life is hardly limited to Aboriginal groups. The Hells Angels, a model of organization, pull the strings of more chaotic street gangs of every sort. Disaffected immigrants and refugees, scarred by the violent anarchy of places like Somalia and Ethiopia, form the nucleus of ultra-violent gangs like the Mad Cowz and the African Nation. "Sometimes people focus on the Aboriginal gangs," says Winnipeg police Chief Keith McCaskill, "but it's everything, it really is."

It's easy to paint a lurid picture in Canada's major cities of crime rampaging out of control. In fact, Canada's overall national crime rate hit its lowest point in over 25 years in 2006, led by a drop in property crimes in all provinces. Still, the violent crime rate, which climbed from the 1960s through the end of the last century, was unchanged.