Canada: High percentage of indigenous people among murder victims

Canada is increasingly becoming a safer country, at least when it comes to violent deaths. This year the number of murders in the state of 35 million reached its lowest level in half a century.

Those are the findings of official statistics published on Wednesday. However, a disproportionately high percentage of such victims are indigenous inhabitants.

The overall number of murders per 100 000 inhabitants fell in the country during 2014 to 1.45, while in the neighboring United States, where it is significantly easier to acquire a firearm, the number during the previous year was 4.6 per 100 000. Canada has now achieved its best results since 1966.

The high percentage of indigenous people among murder victims remains a problem, though. Almost every fourth Canadian shot dead last year was indigenous, even though such persons comprise less than 5 % of the population.

Half of the indigenous peoples in Canada live on reservations with high unemployment and impoverished living conditions, where a high percentage of people are dependent on addictive substances and there is also a significant degree of suicide. The new Canadian Government of PM Justin Trudeau (Liberal Party) has promised to review the unsolved deaths of indigenous women, more than 1 000 of whom were found murdered between 1980 and 2012.