Sask. led country with highest gun-related homicide rate in 2018: StatsCan

Saskatchewan bucked the national trend in 2018 when it came to the rate of people killed by firearms, according to Statistics Canada.

While gun-related homicides were down across most of Canada last year from the year before, the rate rose in Saskatchewan, according to Statistics Canada'sHomicide in Canada 2018 report, released on Wednesday.

Across the country, the firearm-related homicide rate dropped by eight per cent, to a rate of 0.67 per 100,000 population (down from a 25-year high of 0.73 in 2017).

The raw numbers showed there were 249 homicides caused by a firearm across the country, compared with 231 in 2017.

"Prior to 2018, firearm-related homicide had been increasing since 2014, with gang-related violence being the primary driver," the report said.

In Saskatchewan, though, the firearm-related homicide rate rose to 1.03 per 100,000 in 2018 up from a rate of 0.87 in 2017.

The Statistics Canada report showed that Saskatchewan had the only homicide by firearm rate in 2018 that went above one person per 100,000.

Ontario had the next highest rate in 2018, at 0.84 per 100,000.

In 2017, Saskatchewan placed behind Alberta, B.C. and Manitoba in the rate of firearm-related homicides.