Rising violence jars Toronto

TORONTO — A city that prides itself as one of the safest in North America is bewildered by a surge in violence that has produced a record number of shooting deaths this year, the latest a 15-year-old girl on a street filled with holiday shoppers.

Canada's prime minister and Toronto's mayor blame weapons smuggled in illegally from the United States, but others point to a growing gang problem.

Whatever the cause, Canadians recoiled Tuesday after a gunbattle the previous day in Toronto left the teenage bystander lying dead and six other people wounded in a street near a popular shopping mall.

It was the 52nd death inflicted by a firearm this year in Canada's biggest city, which is nearly twice as many as last year and raised the overall homicide toll to 78 — not far below the record 88 homicides of 1991. In 1995, there were only 12 shootings out of a total of 60 homicides.

"I think it's a day that Toronto has finally lost its innocence," Detective Sgt. Savas Kyriacou said. "It was a tragic loss and tragic day."

Police said Monday's gunfire erupted during an argument between two groups of youths. As many as 10 to 15 people were involved in the shooting amid crowds of shoppers lining part of Yonge Street in the heart of Toronto's downtown.

Prime Minister Paul Martin said he was horrified.

Deadly numbers


Deaths from handgun shootings in Toronto almost doubled this year to 52, up from 27 in 2004. In 1995, there were only 12.

Half of all illegal handguns seized annually by police (about 1,500 guns) are smuggled over the border from the U.S.

The overall homicide toll this year is 78 — not far below the record 88 homicides of 1991.

New York, which has a little over double Toronto's 3 million people, has recorded 515 homicides this year.

"What we saw yesterday is a stark reminder of the challenge that governments, police forces and communities face to ensure that Canadian cities do not descend into the kind of rampant gun violence we have seen elsewhere," Martin said.

By elsewhere, he meant the United States. Martin, other politicians and police contend illegal guns flowing across the border are behind the spike in firearm violence.

Martin vowed earlier this month to ban handguns if his Liberal Party wins re-election in the Jan. 15 parliamentary elections. But ownership of such weapons is already severely restricted, and critics accused him of playing politics with the violence spree.

Half of all illegal handguns seized annually by police (about 1,500 guns) are smuggled over the border from the U.S. The other half are stolen from legitimate gun owners, sold illegally or purchased over the Internet.

The jump in killings comes after Canada had seen a steady decline in gun-related homicides. The country had a total of 172 homicides in 2004, down from 271 in 1990.

Even with the jump in killings, this city of 3 million people is relatively safe. New York, which has a little over double Toronto's population, has recorded 515 homicides this year.

Deputy Police Chief Tony Warr, who heads the Toronto Police Services' (TPS) guns and gangs unit, says TPS recently redeployed 200 officers to patrol the most troubled gang neighborhoods on foot. An additional 250 officers will be hired over the next year.

Hugh Graham, president of the Black Business and Professional Association, cites a culture that puts violence and illegal activities on a pedestal — and schools that do little to counter that influence for minority children.

"We believe the problem is systemic: Children in poor black ghettos lack hope and they go on to be stereotyped in the school system," Graham says. "Hip-hop culture fascinates them at an early age and some become gangsters themselves. If I had a chance, I'd get rid of the black entertainment culture tomorrow."

Toronto Mayor David Miller said, "The U.S. is exporting its problem of violence to the streets of Toronto."

John Thompson, a security analyst with the Toronto-based Mackenzie Institute, disagreed. He said Canada has a gang problem — not a gun problem — and that the country should stop pointing the finger at the United States. "It's a cop-out. It's an easy way of looking at one symptom rather than addressing a whole disease," Thompson said.

Miller conceded that the smuggled guns aren't the only factor in the increase of violence. The mayor said poverty is an important element.

"There are neighborhoods in Toronto where young people face barriers of poverty, discrimination, and don't have real hope and opportunity," Miller said. "The kind of programs that we once took for granted in Canada, that would reach out to young people, have systematically disappeared over the past decade and I think that gun violence is a symptom of a much bigger problem."