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Statistics Canada’s report on homicides in the 2021 calendar year painted a bad picture for Regina.
According to the stats, Regina had the highest rate in the country of homicides per 100,000 people. With 15 murders, Regina had a rate of 5.67 per 100,000 people — a 25 per cent increase from the previous year.
Saskatoon recorded eight murders in 2021 for a rate of 2.32 per 100,000 people.
Saskatchewan’s homicide rate rose by six in 2021 to 70, which produced the second-highest rate in the country at 5.93 murders per 100,000 people.
Speaking to Gormley on Wednesday morning, Regina Police Service Chief Evan Bray admitted those numbers are concerning.
“It’s not a distinction anyone wants to have and sadly Regina has had that in past years, Saskatoon has had it (and so have) Edmonton, Winnipeg and Thunder Bay — we tend to be the five cities that end up in that spot,” he said.
“Last year, we had 15 homicides in Regina, which is far and away the most we’ve ever had.”
While Bray didn’t deny that crime last year was on the rise significantly in Regina, he pointed out the Stats Canada report didn’t paint the full picture of the current issues Regina was or is facing.
“I think part of the strategy in terms of moving forward is examining those homicides to understand what trends there are, because in the release, Stats Canada talked a lot about gang activity related to homicides,” Bray explained.
“I can tell you that although it’s a thing in our community, if you look at the 15 homicides we had last year, I would say drugs and domestic relationships were higher in terms of trend lines than gang activity.”
He added gangs, drugs or guns can almost all be looped in together because so many of those areas relate and correspond to each other.
“Often we talk about the importance that gangs, drugs and guns are all tied together. If someone asks what are we doing about guns, it’s not just that work we’re doing (but) the drug work we’re doing also has an impact on that,” he explained. “The gang work we’re doing also has an impact on drugs and guns because they’re all tied in so close together.”
To date, Regina has had seven homicides in 2022. Last year at this time of year, the city already had had 11 murders.
In terms of general crime stats, Bray said things have been fairly consistent. The biggest issue police face right now is when it comes to property crime.