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Chart: How homicides were most commonly committed
infographic
Chris HannayIndependent business reporter

This article was published more than 12 years ago. Some information may no longer be current.

Screengrab from Canadian homicide rate chart

Canada's homicide rate has fallen to a 44-year low, hitting 1.62 homicides per 100,000 population in 2010 (or 554 police-reported homicides in total).

Stabbing and shooting have alternated as the most common ways to commit homicides, with guns responsible for half of all of Toronto's homicides in 2010.



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Between them, stabbing, shooting and beating accounted for 84.4 per cent of Canada's homicides in 2010. Other methods include: strangulation or suffocation (7.7 per cent of homicides), vehicle (3.2 per cent) and fire (including death by smoke inhalation or burns) (2.1 per cent). There were four police-reported homicides each due to poisoning and shaken baby syndrome.

Of firearm-related homicides, handguns were used most often. This continues a 20-year trend, as the number of homicides due to rifles or shotguns has steadily fallen.



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Source: Statistics Canada