In 2023, the crime rate declared to the police was 34% higher in rural communities than in urban centers, according to a new report published Tuesday by Statistics Canada. The same year, the rate of violent crime, which included homicides, domestic violence and attacks, was 1.7 times higher in rural areas.
This text is a translation of an article by CTV News.
“It’s at least worrying,” said Tim Brodt, president of the Saskatchewan Rural Crime Watch Association.
The gravity of crime severity (IGC) measures the volume and severity of crimes in different regions.
In 2023, Saskatchewan recorded the highest rural IGC in the country, with 204, followed by Manitoba and Alberta, with 184 and 145 respectively.
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The Prince Edward Island, Ontario and Quebec were the only exceptions. These provinces have registered rural crime rates generally lower than those in urban areas.
The crime rate in rural areas is three times higher in the northern regions than in those of the South.
According to Mr. Brodt, gangs and drugs are the source of the increase in crime in the north of Saskatchewan.
“The situation is so serious that people enter the gardens by car and shoot the front door to warn the inhabitants to stay at home.”
-Tim Brodt, president of the Saskatchewan Rural Crime Watch Association
-In general, rural communities also know more crimes against property.
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In Delisle, in Saskatchewan, the firefighters were victims of a burglary in one of their neighboring barracks during the Christmas period. They have lost thousands of dollars in rescue equipment, including a hydraulic battery retractor.
“It is very discouraging to think that the people we are called to help steal the tools we need to help them,” said the chief of the firefighters Mike Given.
According to Mr. Given, rural crimes, including burglaries, vandalism and thefts, seem to be increasing in the region. As a result, people install security systems in their homes and businesses.
“It’s a difficult life to live suddenly,” he said.
The Association of Rural Municipalities of Saskatchewan (STM) has long been campaigning in favor of measures aimed at strengthening security in rural areas.
The president of the SRM, Bill Huber, said that an increase in funding and a legislative reform were necessary to fill the gaps in terms of ordering order in rural areas.
“With fewer police detachments covering larger regions, intervention times can extend up to an hour or more, which makes inhabitants and rural properties vulnerable and in fact privileged targets for crime,” he argued by press release at CTV News.
Crime and security in rural areas were electoral issues in the provincial elections last fall in Saskatchewan. The provincial government has since recruited a new Marshals service to help the RCMP.
Defenders like Mr. Brodt want more funds to be invested in the RCMP to help solve this problem.
