While violence was claiming the lives of 31 persons in the U.S. cities of El Paso, Texas and Dayton Ohio this weekend, Canada’s biggest city suffered a violent convulsion of its own.
It is becoming more apparent that while Canada may lack the big numbers that attract big headlines in the U.S. (we have one-tenth the population, after all), many Canadians are wondering more and more about where gun violence is headed north of 49th parallel.
Here’s what we know and what police are investigating.
Seventeen persons wound up shot in 14 incidents over Canada’s August three-day holiday weekend.
Police Chief Mark Saunders addresses the media at Monday’s news conference. (youtube.com)
Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders told a news conference Monday he found the figures “very bothersome.”
“This is not a normal weekend for the city of Toronto,” the chief said.
“Most of the shootings are occurring at nighttime and a lot of places and some of the people that have been shot aren’t necessarily 9 to 5, wife and kids at home,” he said.
The worst incident occurred early Monday morning when seven persons at a nightclub called District 45, in the city’s northwest.
“We had over 100 people at the club and someone was brazen enough to pull a gun and start shooting,” Saunders told reporters.
Mayor John Tory (seen in 2018) is once again calling for a handgun ban in Toronto. (Christopher Katsarov/Canadian Press)
Also on Monday, Toronto Mayor John Tory released a statement again calling for a ban of handguns in the city.
“This was always put forward as part of the answer to gun violence together with with changes to other laws affecting things like like, bail, additional support for police, and the paramount need for all three governments to invest together in kids, families and neighbourhoods,” the statement said.
Earlier this year, Ottawa passed legislation that strengthened background checks and forced retailers to keep better records of firearms sales but did not ban handguns.
The federal minister of border security and organized crime reduction, Bill Blair, a former Toronto police chief, has not ruled out a ban but says more consultation is needed.
According to Statistics Canada, there were approximately 7,100 victims of crimes in Canada in 2016,
They resulted in 223 gun homicides.
With files from CBC, CP, CTV, Global, Tononto Sun, Huffington Post
(EDITOR’S NOTE: ORIGINALLY, THIS STORY LISTED 16. PEOPLE SHOT IN 12 INCIDENTS. OFFICIALS UPDATED THE FIGURES LATER TUESDAY.)
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