Glaswegian

Eh??

Show me those stats ....

iaink

Some one has to as Mr Pants is sadly MIA

Just yanking your chain mate, though you were being a bit too self riteous with the "I am canadian and I know best and dont you forget it " line and it all went a bit south from there

Actually, I got the impression there were at least as many expats saying you cant judge a country by random new articles as there were saying that canada is a scarry place and you'd better watch your back. Point taken though.

Have to agree about the biased opinions, but then what other sort is there? Stats can be a dodgy area too, are they all compiled the same way for example? What was the objective of the generation of the stats? Seems to be that you can prove most anything you want by looking at the right stats (or not looking at the wrong ones), but then we have to start being objective here somewhere. Theres a first time for everything

Glaswegian

Makes for a good debate though, doesn't it?

Salacious facts are always much more interesting

"Facts" are infinitely bendable and misrepresentable - statistics don't lie, but by carefully choosing your sample, the hypothesis that you are testing and the statistcal method used, you can say pretty much what you want.

In essence what this forum is about is opinion - it may be inaccurate conjecture based on biased, fragmental and poorly sampled data, but it's based on impressions formed in the minds of people who are new to Canada - sorry, until you've really been in the same position, you can't comment - heading to Mexico for the winter doesn't cut you any cred in the mind of a real immigrant

And as you keep telling us, you aren't an immigrant

oceanMDX

If you want to quote me, please do it accurately. That's not what I said.


Opinions that are grounded in objective evidence are a cut above those merely based on skewed personal experience. I see a repetitive theme on this forum that lends itself to misinforming others. To wit, if someone has difficulty in their personal life - often this is job-related - then Canada is seen as undesireable. This is such a highly subjective view, that it is of extremely limited value, and the problem may be more with the person than the country.

Another problem here, is that opinions are often presented as facts.


By the way, I also studied statistics in university. To be sure, stats can be a dicey area. That's why I like to quote Statistics Canada where possible, since they endeavor to be consistent in their methodology. That way, at least comparisons within Canada are of some worth. I like to understand why people are emigrating. Lots of Canadians emigrate for better weather and for better employment/economic opportunities to the US. I've never heard of anyone leaving Canada because of its levels of crime. Lots of Brits emigrate for better weather and to get away from the high level of crime/yob culture in the UK. Those facts are hard to argue with wouldn't you agree?

oceanMDX

While I'm native to Canada, I have resided in (not merely visited) four countries. I officially immigrated to The Bahamas, then a few years later, to Mexico. My application for Mexican citizenship is currently pending. So you see, I am an immigrant (twice), just not to Canada.

iaink

I should get to bed so Ill be brief.

A. I was paraphrasing, it was close enough to the drift of your statement. No offense intended, lighten up will ya!

B. All opinion is biased. Period.

C. Nothing stated here by any member (except Ray1968 of course (do I get suck up karma for that?) ) is to be taken as gospel. Caveat emptor applies to all posts!

D. I agree about Stats Canada, although others give me a hard time here for mentioning them. But do you really want to take stats canada figures and compare them to home office figures to compare crime levels internationaly? Doesnt seem a good idea to me as both have a vested interest in "looking good". Who should we turn to for international comparison, and is it even worth the trouble as...

E. People are funny creatures, no amount of facts will change someones mind if they have a feeling about something!

Cheers

Iain

oceanMDX

Check them out:

http://www.homefair.com/homefair/ser...toCity=ALF0001

oceanMDX

My opinion is that the human cornea gets most of its oxygen supply directly from the air. Is that a biased opinion?


Comparing crime stats internationally is a huge difficulty - as you rightly suggest. I'll just watch those who are voting with their feet as to which countries have the best crime levels.

Unfortunately, you are bang on about that one.

Glaswegian

As noted elsewhere ... I was just yanking your chain too

But I have to say .... you still haven't made it out of the Americas

MikeUK

Well…. I had a quick look through the stats as we seem to like to refer to them.. and I have also chosen not to post any either as we all know that a selective bias choice of any state is irrelevant..

But in a nut shell it would appear Contact crime is higher in the UK.. I believe that refers to crime involving physical contact between victim and aggressor.. also burglaries are much higher in the UK.
But we need also to mention that Homicides are much higher in Canada and too my surprise it’s the prairies that are the most dangerous.. Ontario is on par with the UK and only PEI, Yukon and New Brunswick being lower… It would appear that Saskatchewan is not the place to live if you want to avoid violent crime.. Statistically that’s is

it would suggest that you are more likely to be involved in a crime in the UK.. but on the down side if your are involved in violent crime in Canada you twice as likely to die!

I’d recommend the UN stats if you want to do unbiased comparisons… and look at all crime levels

willmore

That's really interesting Mike - thanks for the info -every country has its good and bad points - do you have he website just offhand for those stats I'd be interested in having a look!

Glaswegian

The Calgary Police Service provides a breakdown of crimes by community.

If anybody is thinking of coming to Calgary, read the Fraser Institute's school report and check out the crime rates for the communities you're looking at, both make interesting reading.

MikeUK

I did multiple search's on Google so my perception of the data is across a range of sites.. some UN and some that refer to UN data...some form WHO etc

MikeUK

Here's a great set of stats on crime covering the world...

and its just shows that there's not that much differance between the UK and Canada

http://www.unodc.org/pdf/crime/seventh_survey/7sc.pdf

iaink

Makes interesting reading, are these stats all on a level playing field, or are they just gathered from the national governments?
If taken at face value I think a 20% higher rate of per capita recorded crime is significant, and thats just the recorded crime. Hands up, how many people in the UK even bother to report the petty stuff like vandalism anymore?What about the almost 4 times higher rate of major assualt?

In fact there are only two categories in the top boxes that are better than canada, attempted murder and drug offenses (no surprise there!)

For the record there were a bunch of tyre slashings in Belleville at the weekend...30 cars. I know about this because it was considered newsworthy here. Maybe I should post the link to the local paper

Can we close this thread now?

Iain