THUNDER BAY — The rate of violent crimes committed by individuals armed with guns has gone up sharply in Thunder Bay over the past 10 years.
Statistics Canada released new data Tuesday which backs up concerns expressed earlier this month by Thunder Bay Police Det. Insp. Jeremy Pearson, who called firearm-related violence in the community "very much a concern."
In 2022, there were 40 police-reported gun-related incidents in the Thunder Bay metropolitan area, for a rate of 32 for every 100,000 residents.
This was 75 per cent higher than the average annual rate of 18 per 100,000 people over the decade between 2012 and 2021.
Notably, the rate of firearm-related violent crime in the Thunder Bay CMA in 2022 was 286 per cent higher than it was in the year 2012.
Two of the seven homicides in the city last year involved guns, and six of the nine attempted homicides involved the use of firearms.
Police have attributed the rise in the incidence of gun-related crime largely to the expansion of drug trafficking by rings based in southern Ontario.
"Up in this area now, you can see that there’s a little more competition, and now all of a sudden, the firearms and the retaliation is starting because they’re all fighting for that same dollar," a police spokesperson stated in 2021.
"These guys do not care because there’s a great deal of money at stake, and they will do what it takes," said Det. Insp. John Fennell.
Police and municipal leaders have repeatedly called for several years for additional government support to help the community cope with the increasing rate at which criminals are carrying and using guns.
In 2022, the last year for which figures are available, the Thunder Bay Police Service Intelligent Unit – the branch that focuses on drug trafficking and organized crime – executed warrants that resulted in the seizure of 25 firearms.
