Crime levels Toronto/Ontario/Canada vs. USA

[mira_johnson]

My passion for Canada started out while I was living in USA and wanting something similar but better. I somehow knew that USA had issues back then that would be less an issue in Canada, such as healthcare, inequality, politics and crime rates. However, recently, USA has shocked me to the core with it's high crime rates particularly with recent mass shootings and gun related crimes. At this moment in time, I honestly do not want to even visit the USA unless I absolutely have to. In fact, the mass shooting statistics in the U.S. are sick. I can hardly think of any other country with gun issues like that.

Obviously, while preparing to settle in Ontario (Toronto), Canada it makes me wonder how safe "our" neighbouring country Canada really is in comparison to the U.S., and to the rest of the world!? Most specifically, I am curious about its gun related crimes. Toronto is, geographically, not in a great area in my opinion, bordering to three of the most dangerous cities in the U.S., such as Chicago, Detroit and Buffalo. All three places seem to have horrible crime statistics, with Chicago and Detroit at the front. I don't understand how Toronto can be safe based on that geography. How strict is the Canadian border bordering the U.S.? How common is mass shootings in Canada and in Toronto? Could anyone please help inform me on this subject. I am not asking for sympathy or calm here, just plain honesty. Meanwhile, I am doing my own research.
I am also curious to know where are considered safe places in Canada e.g. are cities generally more dangerous than smaller cities/towns?

I would GREATLY appreciate any response, whether it is your own personal experience or factual information! Many thanks

 

[torontosm]

My passion for Canada started out while I was living in USA and wanting something similar but better. I somehow knew that USA had issues back then that would be less an issue in Canada, such as healthcare, inequality, politics and crime rates. However, recently, USA has shocked me to the core with it's high crime rates particularly with recent mass shootings and gun related crimes. At this moment in time, I honestly do not want to even visit the USA unless I absolutely have to. In fact, the mass shooting statistics in the U.S. are sick. I can hardly think of any other country with gun issues like that.

Obviously, while preparing to settle in Ontario (Toronto), Canada it makes me wonder how safe "our" neighbouring country Canada really is in comparison to the U.S., and to the rest of the world!? Most specifically, I am curious about its gun related crimes. Toronto is, geographically, not in a great area in my opinion, bordering to three of the most dangerous cities in the U.S., such as Chicago, Detroit and Buffalo. All three places seem to have horrible crime statistics, with Chicago and Detroit at the front. I don't understand how Toronto can be safe based on that geography. How strict is the Canadian border bordering the U.S.? How common is mass shootings in Canada and in Toronto? Could anyone please help inform me on this subject. I am not asking for sympathy or calm here, just plain honesty. Meanwhile, I am doing my own research.
I am also curious to know where are considered safe places in Canada e.g. are cities generally more dangerous than smaller cities/towns?

I would GREATLY appreciate any response, whether it is your own personal experience or factual information! Many thanks

In case you didn't see the coverage, Toronto was recently ranked the 4th safest city in the world, and by far the safest city in North America by The Economist. This is a huge accomplishment given the size, recent growth and diversity of Toronto.
http://safecities.economist.com/safe-cities-index-2017

That said, there are certainly areas of the city that you would want to avoid. However, gun related crimes are relatively rare as compared to US cities. This is partially due to culture, and partially due to the fact that Canadian authorities take gun related crimes very seriously. Punishments are very severe and there is zero tolerance to the unauthorized carrying of weapons.

 

[scylla]

Spend some time researching gun laws in Canada vs. the US. Huge differences in what you're allowed and not allowed to own and do between the two countries. Also agree with the comment above regarding gun culture - very different in Canada.

 

[Binabik]

Canada is arguably safer than the US, and than most countries in the world for that matter. Look for crime statistics (e.g., http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/85-002-x2001011-eng.pdf). Everybody who leaved in both countries can tell you that as well (I do). You will feel much safer in Canada than in the States!

Now it does not mean that there is absolutely no crime in Canada. You simply want to pick a good neighbourhood and avoid shady alleys at night. Basic stuff.

 

[vensak]

My passion for Canada started out while I was living in USA and wanting something similar but better. I somehow knew that USA had issues back then that would be less an issue in Canada, such as healthcare, inequality, politics and crime rates. However, recently, USA has shocked me to the core with it's high crime rates particularly with recent mass shootings and gun related crimes. At this moment in time, I honestly do not want to even visit the USA unless I absolutely have to. In fact, the mass shooting statistics in the U.S. are sick. I can hardly think of any other country with gun issues like that.

Obviously, while preparing to settle in Ontario (Toronto), Canada it makes me wonder how safe "our" neighbouring country Canada really is in comparison to the U.S., and to the rest of the world!? Most specifically, I am curious about its gun related crimes. Toronto is, geographically, not in a great area in my opinion, bordering to three of the most dangerous cities in the U.S., such as Chicago, Detroit and Buffalo. All three places seem to have horrible crime statistics, with Chicago and Detroit at the front. I don't understand how Toronto can be safe based on that geography. How strict is the Canadian border bordering the U.S.? How common is mass shootings in Canada and in Toronto? Could anyone please help inform me on this subject. I am not asking for sympathy or calm here, just plain honesty. Meanwhile, I am doing my own research.
I am also curious to know where are considered safe places in Canada e.g. are cities generally more dangerous than smaller cities/towns?

I would GREATLY appreciate any response, whether it is your own personal experience or factual information! Many thanks

1. Toronto is not a border city by any means except of the lake (which is rather big to say the least.). To say that Toronto Borders to Detroit is the same as to say that Washington D.C. borders to New York City. Yes you can get from one place to the other within few hours, but in between you have to pass some distance.

2. Not even the GTA area (greater Toronto area) does touch any borders anywhere (except for the lake again).

3. I would say one of the most obvious reasons of less gun shooting is accessibility. Much harder access results in much less intentional usage (from the armed robbery to the neighborhood disputes) and of course non intentional incidents (kids and guns).

4. But with that said, you should not only compare the nr. of the homicides, but all type of crime as such. And here, funny enough New York city is easily comparable. (with more homicide, but less crime overall.

5. There are also statistics that are much less sunny when it comes to Toronto or GTA (raising of non homicides over last 2 years).

 

[NetMecca]

How crime is viewed is all relative. If you rely on statistics as a measure remember that statistics have a perspective. When I compare crime statistic between where I am from and Canada, Canada seems terrible. In reality where I am from is not that different from most war zones. Canada is not that at all. Depending on your perspective of it. Canada is a very safe place. I say it is nice to sleep with both eyes closed. Possible to do that in Canada, without having a gun. Good luck

 

[mira_johnson]

In case you didn't see the coverage, Toronto was recently ranked the 4th safest city in the world, and by far the safest city in North America by The Economist. This is a huge accomplishment given the size, recent growth and diversity of Toronto.
http://safecities.economist.com/safe-cities-index-2017

That said, there are certainly areas of the city that you would want to avoid. However, gun related crimes are relatively rare as compared to US cities. This is partially due to culture, and partially due to the fact that Canadian authorities take gun related crimes very seriously. Punishments are very severe and there is zero tolerance to the unauthorized carrying of weapons.

Thank you for that report, I have heard about reports like this one where Toronto scores high on safety and quality of living but I have also seen other reports from e.g. the economist where Toronto are not ranked at all in terms of "most safe cities" obviously the criteria for every one of these reports differ. I was also surprised how some really uniquely safe cities did not even make it into the 60 rankings whereas cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, London and Brussels (which I thought all had sky-high crime rates) made it into the top 20. It makes me doubt if my perspective of "safety" is similar to that of this report.

My opinion is that just because a place has less gun related crimes than any U.S. state or city does not mean that they don't have a high percentage of gun related crimes. The U.S. is likely to beat most countries on that one. What's interesting to me is how Canada compares to the rest of the world. For instance, this report (
http://bbc.in/2AhtXlV)
lists the top ten civilian gun-owning countries and Canada ranks number 9 alongside countries like Iraq, Uruguay, etc., and most of these countries have compulsory military service. So, it brings me back to my original hypothesis that just because Canada may have less than half the gun related crime issues than USA, they still score relatively high on gun ownership and gun-related crimes. Just have a look at the comparison to other "similar" English speaking countries like the United Kingdom and Australia.
Now, having lived in the United Kingdom I can tell you that the crime levels are very high in this country. But I believe the majority of crimes are still not gun-related, yet plenty of knife stabbings, rapes, acid attacks.. and now terrorism.

I guess what I am asking/wondering about is: could I still be right about that Canada's majority of crimes is about gun-related crime?

 

[mira_johnson]

Spend some time researching gun laws in Canada vs. the US. Huge differences in what you're allowed and not allowed to own and do between the two countries. Also agree with the comment above regarding gun culture - very different in Canada.

I appreciate the response. I definitely need to do more research on that one.

 

[mira_johnson]

Canada is arguably safer than the US, and than most countries in the world for that matter. Look for crime statistics (e.g., http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/85-002-x2001011-eng.pdf). Everybody who leaved in both countries can tell you that as well (I do). You will feel much safer in Canada than in the States!

Now it does not mean that there is absolutely no crime in Canada. You simply want to pick a good neighbourhood and avoid shady alleys at night. Basic stuff.

I also lived in the U.S., and I actually felt quite safe. The problem is you often don't "see" crime visibly on the street. I also feel very safe walking around the streets of Toronto, but that doesn't mean that I "am" as safe as I may feel. So what kind of crimes would you say are the most prominent in Canada? (based on your experience)

 

[scylla]

I also lived in the U.S., and I actually felt quite safe. The problem is you often don't "see" crime visibly on the street. I also feel very safe walking around the streets of Toronto, but that doesn't mean that I "am" as safe as I may feel. So what kind of crimes would you say are the most prominent in Canada? (based on your experience)

I live in a downtown Toronto neighbourhood.

The main crime problem we have is car break-ins where people take whatever's been left in the car or in the glovebox. Many people in our neighbourhood leave their cars unlocked for that reason (that way no windows get broken) and leave nothing of value in the car.

 

[mira_johnson]

1. Toronto is not a border city by any means except of the lake (which is rather big to say the least.). To say that Toronto Borders to Detroit is the same as to say that Washington D.C. borders to New York City. Yes you can get from one place to the other within few hours, but in between you have to pass some distance.

2. Not even the GTA area (greater Toronto area) does touch any borders anywhere (except for the lake again).

3. I would say one of the most obvious reasons of less gun shooting is accessibility. Much harder access results in much less intentional usage (from the armed robbery to the neighborhood disputes) and of course non intentional incidents (kids and guns).

4. But with that said, you should not only compare the nr. of the homicides, but all type of crime as such. And here, funny enough New York city is easily comparable. (with more homicide, but less crime overall.

5. There are also statistics that are much less sunny when it comes to Toronto or GTA (raising of non homicides over last 2 years).

Thank you for your response. Wouldn't you say that, based on the general distance that exist in countries like Canada and even the U.S., that the U.S. border (like Detroit and Buffalo) is fairly close? 4-5 hours in a car and you're there. Now it depends on what level of security measures that are at the border between the U.S. and Canada. Any idea? I remember passing the border control on numerous occasions and border control definitely "asked" whether I had any weapons in the vehicle. That to me is not really a security control. Anyone could lie about that and get away with it.
I realize I may seem a little too focused on gun-related crimes here, but I just find guns to be hard to escape. I feel that it is somehow a lot easier to protect myself from other types of crimes e.g. by learning self-defence, staying fit, securing my house, being alert and not to walk around alone at night. Now, neither of these things would really help if somebody decided to attack with a gun.

You tell me, perhaps there are other crimes I should be more aware of in Toronto

 

[mira_johnson]

How crime is viewed is all relative. If you rely on statistics as a measure remember that statistics have a perspective. When I compare crime statistic between where I am from and Canada, Canada seems terrible. In reality where I am from is not that different from most war zones. Canada is not that at all. Depending on your perspective of it. Canada is a very safe place. I say it is nice to sleep with both eyes closed. Possible to do that in Canada, without having a gun. Good luck

But would you say that it is still slightly "common" to have a gun there as a way to "protect" yourself?
In the U.S., Americans would relate to Canadians as people who would not even bother to lock their door. I wouldn't be able to sleep without both of my eyes closed

 

[scylla]

But would you say that it is still slightly "common" to have a gun there as a way to "protect" yourself?

No. Extremely uncommon.

IMO having a gun in the house is a great way to get hurt yourself or for someone in your family to get hurt. All you're doing is inviting problems. Most Canadians I know share my point of view. No reason for anyone to own a gun unless you live in the country or like hunt animals or something like that (in which case all you need is a rifle).

I don't even know where one buys a gun in Toronto. Bass Pro or something like that?

 

[mira_johnson]

I live in a downtown Toronto neighbourhood.

The main crime problem we have is car break-ins where people take whatever's been left in the car or in the glovebox. Many people in our neighbourhood leave their cars unlocked for that reason (that way no windows get broken) and leave nothing of value in the car.

Interesting. What about break-ins into people's homes?

 

[mira_johnson]

No. Extremely uncommon.

IMO having a gun in the house is a great way to get hurt yourself or for someone in your family to get hurt. All you're doing is inviting problems. Most Canadians I know share my point of view. No reason for anyone to own a gun unless you live in the country or like hunt animals or something like that (in which case all you need is a rifle).

I don't even know where one buys a gun in Toronto. Bass Pro or something like that?

Yes, I really don't get many American's perspective on wanting to be able to "defend themselves" and thus supporting gun culture. Wouldn't it be nice not needing to be in "defence" all the time.
A rifle is still pretty scary though. But sure, I get the hunting animals in northern Canada game