What may be behind Saskatoon's drop in crime
Saskatoon's Crime Severity Index rate dropped 10 per cent last year.
The index is Statistics Canada's annual measure of the volume and severity of crimes reported to police.
Saskatoon came in at 106 in 2020 - down from marks of around 118 to 119 from 2016 to 2019.
Nationally, the index fell eight per cent. Statistics Canada attributes some of the drop to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Less property crime was largely the reason for the overall decline in police-reported crime in 2020," Statistics Canada said in its daily note.
"With stay-at-home orders and many individuals working remotely, most Canadians were not leaving their homes as often, which reduced opportunities for some property crimes. Violations such as breaking and entering, shoplifting of $5,000 or under and theft of $5,000 or under declined markedly from 2019 to 2020."
However, this year's figures aren't all good news, as the number of police-reported hate crimes in Canada increased by 37 per cent during the first year of the pandemic to 2,669 in 2020.
"This marks the largest number of police-reported hate crimes since comparable data became available in 2009," Statistics Canada says.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.