New data released by Statistics Canada shows that last year, the country saw the highest rate of gang-related homicides in 16 years.

In 2021, compared with 2020, the total national homicide rate rose by 3 per cent to about two homicides per 100,000 people.

Throughout the country, there were 788 homicides total reported in 2021, but 184 of those were gang-related.

There were 33 more gang-related homicides reported than in 2020, resulting in the highest rate (0.48 per 100,000 population) recorded in Canada since comparable data was first collected in 2005.

Statistics Canada’s release says the province of Saskatchewan had the highest homicide rate, up nine per cent from 2020. But Ontario and B.C. also saw large increases.

For Ontario cities, Regina, Winnipeg, and Thunder Bay had the highest rates of homicides.

And the rate of indigenous victims across the country remained disproportionately high, six times higher than non-indigenous people. In 2021, police reported 190 homicide victims as Indigenous.

However, homicides are still rare in Canada overall. In 2021, they made up only 0.2 per cent of all violent crimes reported to police.