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Regina, Saskatoon, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg have highest city crime rate

Guelph, Quebec City, Toronto, Ottawa have the lowest crime rate by city

Nunavut, N.W.T., the Yukon have highest province/territory crime rate

Ontario, N.B. and P.E.I. have lowest crime rates by province/ territory

There were 44 more homicides in 2011 in Canada than in 2010

Since 1991, rate of males charged with violent crime has dropped by 32%

Since 1991, rate of women charged with violent crime has risen 34%

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TORONTO — The rate of crimes reported to Canadian police forces reached its lowest level in 40 years in 2011, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday.

The government agency says there were about two million incidents reported to police last year, about 110,000 fewer than in 2010.

The severity of crime index, a tool used to measure the extent of serious crime in Canada, also dropped by six per cent.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, who has been heavily criticized for his tough-on-crime agenda despite the year-after-year evidence that shows crime rates lowering in Canada, said the latest report suggests his government’s policies are working.

The Conservatives’ latest omnibus crime bill passed in the House of Commons in December, meaning it would not affect the most recent Statistics Canada report.

StatsCan says both the crime rate and the severity index declined or remained stable in regions throughout the country.

Decreases were reported in several major categories, including attempted murder, major assaults, sexual assaults, robberies, break-ins and motor vehicle thefts.

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But there was an increase in 2011 in homicide, sexual offences against children, impaired driving and most drug offences.

“Overall, this marked the eighth consecutive decrease in Canada’s crime rate,” the study said. “Since peaking in 1991, the crime rate has generally been decreasing, and is now at its lowest point since 1972.”

The volume and severity of police-reported crime were highest in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut and lowest in Ontario.