I just saw this one on the BBC news website and thought you'd all have a view on the issue.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6686297.stm

So, Canada: safe or not?

Simon

One is as safe in Canada as one is in the US. In rural areas there's nothing to worry about, in urban ones there is.

The statistics say it is safer.

Big Canadian cities like Toronto will have higher crime rates just like the UK. Its the same for most countries. The higher the population density, the more likely it is that crime is higher. What makes Canada more safe in general is that there are plenty of small towns and villages out in the vast spaces that Canada has. Unlike the UK, our cities are merging and therefore the crime statistics are higher and more equally spread across our country. There are not many places left to escape it.

Remember Hungerford?

I don't think it makes sense to say that Canada is safer because there are vast expanses with no crimes; those are areas with no people. The populated areas of Canada have a higher population density than the UK; it's the world's most urbanised country. It makes sense only to look at those areas as that's where the immigrants will live. Crime in North America is slightly different than in the UK, there are more murders but less crimes of lesser violence; street fights and so on, but comparisons are a minefield because defintions of crimes vary widely.

I suppose one can say that given the number and types of guns in circulation in Canada (more legal automatic weapons than in the US, one tenth of the population) people here are really quite restrained.

is anywhere safe at allI think everywhere has its nutters and killers-druggies ect just some places are worse than others.

Yes it's safe.
All murderers and peados are detained at immigration. If any do manage to get through though, they're sent to live in Toronto

This is of course untrue. Each Canadian takes up more space than a Brit because they're fatter. So the people/square foot number is lower.

It's also untrue for less obscure reasons. Such as the facts. e.g. the population of London UK is roughly the same as the whole of Ontario and London is only about 600 square kilometers in area.

Overall, but perhaps less convincing, the population density in Canada is less than 1% of the density in England.

But we're all squished together against the border!

Only in your mind.

Firstly we call the intersection where the kid was shot, the intersection of "get shot and get robbed' its natorious for its gun crime, drugs and gangs.

Secondly you all seem to think that this is the land of Oz and your all going to skip down the yellow brick road with Dorothy and all her friends.

its the same sh*t its just a different country!!

If you look for trouble you will find it.

This is a a one off thing. Very different than the US, think closer to Brixton, Toxteth areas than White Kids gone Nuts.

That's true, depending on your source 80 or 90% of the Canadian population live within 100 miles of the border, it's silly to look at the crime stats for, say, Saskatchewan, unless you're interested in comparing with North Dakota.

Winnipeg has a reputation, as a high murder city, and its true, IF you are a drug dealer, are a drug user, are hanging around the areas where this is happening at night and look like you might be a drug dealer.

You have to be able to read between the lines on the news reports, nearly all of the crime is bad guy on bad guy. They report a home invasion on a woman with kids, what they don't report is boy friend is a Gangbanger, and has a grow opp.

In our former Village in East Anglia Burgalry was no longer a surprise, my father in law was burgled 3 times. I have not heard of a single burglary in our part of Winnipeg in the ten years we have lived here.

At the Winnipeg superstores bags of fertilizer, sand, stones, whatever etc., are just heaped in the parking lots for sale and are not in a compound all the time, not taken in at night, just there, no security, no cameras, and they are NOT stolen, it just blew me away when we moved here, and I am still prone to comment on it when passing.

In my experiance Canada is a much more peacefull law abiding Country than the UK.

Especially if you happen to be black. A factor in perception of the risk of crime is that, in the UK, anyone can be involved, whereas, in North America, it's disproportionately black people who are the victims; that tends to make white people in Canada feel safe.

It's just like the US. Poor black people killing each other.