Table 1
Victims of homicide by gender-related status and victim and incident characteristic, Canada, 2011 to 2021

Table 1
Victims of homicide by gender-related status and victim and incident characteristic, Canada, 2011 to 2021
Table summary
This table displays the results of Victims of homicide by gender-related status and victim and incident characteristic Gender-related homicide of women and girls and Non-gender-related homicides, calculated using number and percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
	number	percent	number	percent
	Gender-related homicide of women and girls^{Table 1 Note 1}		Non-gender-related homicides
Victim gender
Women and girls	1,125	100.0	720	12.4
Men and boys	Note ...: not applicable	Note ...: not applicable	5,104	87.6
Total	1,125	100.0	5,824	100.0
Accused-victim relationship
Spouse^{Table 1 Note 2}	545	48.6	121	3.1
Non-spousal intimate partner^{Table 1 Note 3}	193	17.2	73	1.8
Child^{Table 1 Note 4}	154	13.7	185	4.7
Other family^{Table 1 Note 5}	159	14.2	480	12.1
Friend^{Table 1 Note 6}	25	2.2	1,355	34.2
Acquaintance^{Table 1 Note 7}	30	2.7	943	23.8
Stranger	16	1.4	810	20.4
Unknown	3	Note ...: not applicable	188	Note ...: not applicable
Solved homicide total^{Table 1 Note 8}	1,125	100.0	4,155	100.0
Incident location
Residential location^{Table 1 Note 9}	978	87.2	3,249	56.4
Open area^{Table 1 Note 10}	102	9.1	1,824	31.7
Other^{Table 1 Note 11}	41	3.7	689	12.0
Unknown	4	Note ...: not applicable	62	Note ...: not applicable
Total	1,125	100.0	5,824	100.0
Primary method to cause death
Shooting	246	22.7	2,121	37.6
Stabbing	370	34.1	1,849	32.8
Beating or blows	223	20.6	1,068	18.9
Strangulation, suffocation, drowning	183	16.9	222	3.9
Other^{Table 1 Note 12}	63	5.8	379	6.7
Unknown	40	Note ...: not applicable	185	Note ...: not applicable
Total	1,125	100.0	5,824	100.0
Apparent motives
No apparent motive	100	9.6	540	10.9
Argument or quarrel	308	29.6	1,691	34.1
Financial gain or settling of accounts or debts	32	3.1	1,106	22.3
Jealousy or envy	148	14.2	163	3.3
Frustration, anger, despair	331	31.8	593	12.0
Revenge	26	2.5	326	6.6
Other motives^{Table 1 Note 13}	96	9.2	534	10.8
Unknown	84	Note ...: not applicable	871	Note ...: not applicable
Total	1,125	100.0	5,824	100.0
... not applicable Note 1 Includes the homicide of women and girls where an intimate partner or a family member was the accused. Also includes the homicide of women and girls who experienced sexual violence as part of the homicide or were identified as sex workers. To be considered gender-related, the homicide must have been cleared by police and perpetrated by a male accused. Non-gender-related homicides are all those that do not contain the above qualifiers. Return to note 1 referrer Note 2 Includes current and former legally married spouses and common-law partners. Return to note 2 referrer Note 3 Includes current and former dating partners (i.e., boyfriends and girlfriends) and other intimate partners (e.g., extra-marital intimate partner, one-night stands). Return to note 3 referrer Note 4 Includes children and step-children. Return to note 4 referrer Note 5 Includes parents, step-parents, siblings and extended family members. Return to note 5 referrer Note 6 Includes close, casual and family friends as well as roommates. Return to note 6 referrer Note 7 Includes other household members, temporary house guests, current and former intimate partners of family members, neighbours, business relationships, authority and reverse authority figures, criminal relationships, co-substance users, co-institutional facility members and other acquaintances. Return to note 7 referrer Note 8 Includes homicides with a known accused. Return to note 8 referrer Note 9 Includes single homes, dwelling units (e.g., apartment units, condo units), commercial dwelling units (e.g. hotel rooms), nursing homes, retirement homes and community group homes. Return to note 9 referrer Note 10 Includes parking lots, streets, roads, highways and other open areas (e.g., playgrounds, parks, fields), transit buses and bus shelters, subways and subway stations, and other forms of public transportation and connected facilities. Return to note 10 referrer Note 11 Includes commercial properties and other corporate places (e.g., banks, bars, restaurants, car dealerships, convenience stores, gas stations, pharmacies), schools (including universities and colleges) during supervised and unsupervised activities, non-commercial locations (e.g., government buildings, community centres, halfway houses, homeless shelters or missions), private property structures (e.g., sheds, detached garages, fishing boats) and other locations (e.g., religious institutions, hospitals, correctional institutions, construction sites, privately owned vehicles, taxis, limousines). Return to note 11 referrer Note 12 Includes drug overdoses, poisoning or lethal injections, smoke inhalation or burns, exposure or hypothermia, abusive head traumas (previously referred to as shaken baby syndrome), motor vehicle impacts or collisions, neglect or failure to support life and other methods. Return to note 12 referrer Note 13 Includes hate crime, terrorism or security threat, illegal drug trade activities, concealment of a child, intent to conceal information or actions, assisting a suicide, euthanasia, sexual motivations, custody disputes, fear of apprehension, personal protection, honour based and types of motives not otherwise classified. Return to note 13 referrer Note: There may be a small number of homicides included in a given year's total that occurred in previous years. Homicides are counted according to the year in which they are reported to Statistics Canada. Excludes victims and accused where gender was coded as unknown. The year 2019 marked the first cycle of collection of the Homicide Survey data for which information on gender identity was reported for victims and persons accused of homicide. Gender refers to the gender a person publicly expresses in their daily life, including at work, while shopping or accessing other services, in their housing environment or in the broader community. Prior to 2019, Homicide Survey data was presented by the sex of the victims and accused persons. Sex and gender refer to two different concepts. Caution should be exercised when comparing counts for sex with those for gender. Given that small counts of victims and accused persons reported or were identified as being non-binary, the aggregate Homicide Survey data available to the public has been recoded to distribute these counts to either "men" or "women" in order to ensure the protection of confidentiality and privacy. Victims and accused persons who reported or were identified as being non-binary have been distributed to either men or women categories based on the regional distribution of victims’ or accused persons’ gender. Percent calculations exclude unknown relationships, locations, methods and motives. Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Homicide Survey.

Date modified:: 2023-10-27

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Table 1
Victims of homicide by gender-related status and victim and incident characteristic, Canada, 2011 to 2021

Table 1 Victims of homicide by gender-related status and victim and incident characteristic, Canada, 2011 to 2021

Table 1
Victims of homicide by gender-related status and victim and incident characteristic, Canada, 2011 to 2021