Toronto, Canadian homicide numbers appear stable, statistics show

Homicide numbers across the country and in the city appear to be stabilizing, numbers provided by Statistics Canada and Toronto police show.

So far, 47 people have been killed in the city this year, a number roughly in line with recent years. However, several high profile cases, including the two people shot to death at or near Muzik nightclub this summer, remain unsolved.

Statistics Canada, meanwhile, released a detailed look at 2014's homicide statistics on Wednesday that showed 516 people were killed across the country last year — almost one quarter of whom were aboriginal.

According to Statistics Canada, 83 people were killed in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area – which includes part but not all of the GTA — in 2014, slightly up from the 80 murders police reported to the agency in 2013.

Within Toronto, there's still a chance the homicide rate will decrease this year. Here's a look at the homicide figures from recent years, including 2015's total as of this week:

- 2012: 52

- 2013: 53

- 2014: 50

- 2015: 47*

Toronto's stable homicide rate may surprise some given a spike in gun violence in the city. In August, police sounded the alarm after the total number of shootings began to outpace the totals of previous years.

Statistics, updated this week, show 137 people have been shot in Toronto this year — 22 of whom died. That's nearly 50 more shootings this year than in 2014. If the gun violence continues the city could surpass 2012's three-year high of 146 shootings.

The 16 stabbing deaths in Toronto this year also mark a three-year high.

To put the homicide numbers in context, however, there have been 57 deaths as a result of fatal vehicle collisions in the city this year.

Statistics Canada's numbers also reveal some deeper trends about crime. Some 83 per cent of solved homicides were committed by someone who knew the victim.

Toronto did have the most murders in the country, followed by Vancouver and Edmonton, though it has a far larger population than both of those cities.