Canada - Most Dangerous Canadian Cities

I was surprised to read that McLean's Magazine rated Prince George, BC as one of Canada's most dangerous cities. And Victoria, too. Wrote my niece asking about Victoria because a second niece lived on the island. She said her half-sister moved from Vancouver Island to Vancouver city after someone was stabbed outside her apartment. I was glad to see Toronto was way down the list.
http://www2.macleans.ca/canadas-most-dangerous-cities/

Their methodology is suspect.

You have your own list?

Their methodology is suspect.

In what way? FWIW here's their methodology:

Methodology: Maclean’s obtained annual crime data from Statistics Canada for municipal police services serving the nation’s 100 largest populations, each encompassing a city or town of at least 10,000 people. Using 2010 rates per 100,000 people for six crimes—homicide, sexual assault, aggravated assault, vehicle theft, robbery plus breaking and entering—Maclean’s calculated the percentage difference from the national rate. The overall crime score ranking for the 100 communities was created in consultation with StatsCan, using its Crime Severity Index (CSI) score and calculating the percentage difference from the national score. Maclean’s calculated the ratios by dividing population of the area by the raw number of crimes.

Meh - my personal feeling is that inclusion of vehicle theft and other property crime with violent crime totally messes up the statistics. In the first place, areas with more cars are going to have more car crime - so that would artificially weight the crime stats higher for smaller cities and those out west.

I'd say these stats would be more meaningful if they just stuck to violent crime. When I think "dangerous" I'm really thinking of threats to my person, not to a hockey bag left in the backseat a couple of blocks away.

I'd prefer to see the ratings by murder, rape, and aggravated assault. By the way, after seeing a history of how the crack industry started, I have to consider that the decline in safety in Canada is a distant reverberation of the 80's wars in Central America. Because that is when US authorities decided to look the other way when anticommunist rebels decided to start shipping cocaine into LA to make money to support their movement. By the time it was all over, the distribution network was in place and just needed cartels to provide the product. Nowadays some of the shipment goes through Canada and affects the safety of Canadian cities. We may have beat communism, but what did we screw up while we were doing it?

LuvAirFrance - what are you talking about, the decline in safety in Canada?

The rate of violent crime in Canada has declined steadily and significantly (http://www.economist.com/node/21541036) in recent years, and the country is one of the safest in the world.

Your comments about the US are true, insofar as they go, but their relevance to Canada is nil. Canada is not home to large populations of poor Central American refugees with Mara ties, or undocumented immigrants from rural Mexico.

If you actually look at the situation, much of the drug crime actually springs from domestic sources (pot in BC) or from Asian gangs.

Your comments are really puzzling. :confused:

And Victoria, too.

Visit Victoria a couple of times a year because mom lives there. No way is it more dangerous than, say, Calgary or Toronto, and most certainly safer than pretty much any city south of the 49th parallel.

McLean's is normaly a good magazine, so I'm surprised they would publish such rubbish.

EmailKid

Visit Victoria a couple of times a year because mom lives there. No way is it more dangerous than, say, Calgary or Toronto, and most certainly safer than pretty much any city south of the 49th parallel.

McLean's is normaly a good magazine, so I'm surprised they would publish such rubbish.

EmailKid

Uh, my relatives are seriously considering abandoning Western BC because over the years they've lived there it has become more dangerous. But I'm used to fellow Americans giving me the "its safer" talk. I even experienced the decline when I crossed the border twice, once in 2009, next in 2011. A clear chill was evident. They had me park the car and go sit in the Sumas building while they inspected my car. NOTHING like that happened in 2009. I mentioned it to my relatives and they just pointed out all the stuff that was going on, involving cross-border traffic.

Then my niece said my other niece moved to Vancouver from the island because a violent crime happened right in front of her building.

Go ahead, post the propaganda, but it doesn't fool those who've had a close brush with the reality.

Decided to go to the source that McLeans used. Notice some irregularities. It is true that SOME rates are going down (though far from down to zero). But if you look at the chart, drug offences are up in more than one category, and the RAPE category is like FIFTY percent higher! WTH is going on in Canada with rapes? 50 percent? I guess maybe female tourists ought to take that somewhat seriously.

The FBI says the comparable figure in the USA was a 5 percent decrease.

Truth is in either case, caution is always a good idea. I know my two nieces believe that.

I guess maybe female tourists ought to take that somewhat seriously.

The odds of a female tourist visiting a Canadian city being raped are about equal to the odds of her being eaten by a bear in that city.

It turns out that Edmonton is now the murder capital of Canada, with 37 deaths in 2011. More dangerous than YYZ.

:rolleyes:Not to worry, PM Harper's omnibus crime bill is coming to the rescue!:rolleyes: