Urban and Rural Firearms Deaths

Research Summary Preliminary Analysis of Statistics Canada Data

What Have We Done and Why?

Previous Canadian research has suggested that community size may be related to the use of firearms in homicides, suicides and accidental deaths. However, there has been limited systematic analysis of this relationship and such data are not readily available from Statistics Canada.

The Department recently funded a pilot project to examine this relationship and determine the feasibility of obtaining such data from Statistics Canada. More specifically, the analysis was intended to examine all homicides and suicides with and without firearms, and firearm accidents, by the age of the victim, the gender, the province/territory, and community size where the death occurred.

What Methodology Was Used?

In consultation with Statistics Canada, a one year (1991) trial based strategy was developed to determine the feasibility of providing the data requested. The resulting methodology linked the location of deaths (from the Vital Statistics Death Registry) with the population of the communities in which they occurred (from the Census).

What Has Been Learned?

Findings of the data analysis:

The total suicide rate increased as community size decreased and the same was true for firearm suicides - the smaller the community, the higher the firearm suicide rate. The per capita firearm suicide rate in the three largest Canadian cities (Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver and their surrounding areas) was 1.8 compared to 8.0 for the smallest rural areas (Figure 1 and Table 1)

Figure 1:
Firearm and Total Suicide Rates by Community Size, Canada, 1991

• Table 1 demonstrates that total homicide rates are highest in the smallest and largest communities. The rates for firearm homicides show no particular pattern with regard to community size. The rates are highest in the largest cities and second highest in average size communities (i.e., populations of 10,000 to less than 50,000).
• Firearms accidents, while small in number (66 in 1991), were very related to community size. Table 1 indicates that there were similar per capita rates in the three largest population categories; doubling in the areas with populations of 1,000 to less than 10,000; and more than tripling in rural areas.

Table 1:
Number and Rate per 100,000 Population of Total and Firearm Suicide, Homicide and Firearm Accidents by Community Size, Canada, 1991

Type of Death	Community Size
	Mtl,Tor,Van		50,000+		49,999-10,000
	No.	Rate	No.	Rate	No.	Rate
Suicide
Total	911	10.88	927	13.06	627	13.72
Firearm	153	1.83	238	3.35	210	4.60
Homicide
Total	221	2.64	153	2.15	94	2.06
Firearm	96	1.15	42	0.59	46	1.01
Firearm Accidents	14	0.17	9	0.13	7	0.15

Type of Death	Community Size
	9,999-1,000		LT 1,000		Canada
	No.	Rate	No.	Rate	No.	Rate
Suicide
Total	822	13.79	243	18.77	3593	13.16
Firearm	376	6.31	104	8.04	1109	4.06
Homicide
Total	100	1.68	30	2.32	622	2.28
Firearm	42	.70	11	0.85	240	0.88
Firearm Accidents	19	.32	11	0.85	66	0.24

Is it feasible to obtain the data requested?

The one year data analysis indicates that it is feasible to obtain data on overall and firearm deaths by community size. It is also possible to extract this data by province/territory, and by age and sex of the victim. However, the census data used to classify community size cannot be readily linked to mortality data for years prior to 1991.

January 1999