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Waterloo region among safest metropolitan centres in Ontario

According to Statistics Canada, the homicide rate in Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo fell from eight to two last year, the lowest since 2003
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FILE PHOTO - Police line

Newly released homicide numbers suggest Waterloo Region may be among the top five safest metropolitan centres in Ontario.

The numbers from Statistics Canada show the national murder rate is up for a third year in a row, largely due to increases here in Ontario.

Toronto tops the province and the country with 117 homicides in 2021, up from 105 in 2020 though down compared to 2019 (130) and 2018 (145), while Hamilton (20), London (16), Ottawa (15), and Oshawa (13) round out the top five.

On the other end of things, only two people fell victim to homicide in 2021 in Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, down from eight in 2020 and marking the lowest that number has been since 2003.

That puts Waterloo Region in a tie near the bottom with Barrie, Belleville, and Peterborough, while only Guelph posted fewer homicides last year with zero.

Putting that in perspective, the current population of Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo is about three-quarters that of the current metro area of Hamilton and yet the murder rate there was ten times higher last year at 20.

The London metro area with about 64,000 fewer people that KWC saw its murder rate double last year from eight to 16 while Windsor, with about three fifths the population of Waterloo Region, saw a similar doubling of homicides in 2021 from five to ten.