Canada blames violence surge on US

TORONTO is a city that prides itself as one of the safest in North America, but its reputation is being tested by a surge in violence that has produced a record number of gun deaths this year, the latest a 15-year-old girl shot on a street filled with Christmas shoppers.

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

Whatever the cause, Canadians are in shock after a gun battle involving up to 15 youths in the country's largest city left a teenage bystander dead and six other people wounded in a street near a popular shopping mall.

It was the 52nd shooting death this year in Ontario's capital, almost twice as many as last year, and raises the total number of murders to 78 - not far below the record 88 of 1991.

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

Paul Martin, the prime minister, said he was horrified by the latest death. "What we saw 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," he said - a comment seen by observers as a subtle attack on the United States.

Mr Martin, along with other politicians and police, contends that illegal guns flowing across the border are behind the rise in firearm violence.

Earlier this month, the prime minister promised to ban handguns if his Liberal Party wins re-election in 15 January.

However ownership of such weapons is already severely restricted, and critics accused him of playing politics with the increase in violence.

Even with the increase in killings, Toronto's three million citizens are relatively safe. New York, which has 8.2 million residents, has recorded 515 murders this year.

But many Canadians have long taken comfort in the peacefulness of their communities and are nervous about anything that might indicate they are moving closer to their American neighbours.

"What happened yesterday was appalling. You just don't expect it in a Canadian city," said David Miller, the mayor of Toronto.

Mr Miller said that while almost every other type of crime is down in the city, the supply of guns has increased and half of them come from the US.

"The US is exporting its problem of violence to the streets of Toronto," he said.

John Thompson, a security analyst with the Toronto-based Mackenzie Institute, disagreed.

He said that Canada has a gang problem, not a gun problem, and that the country should stop pointing the finger at the US. "It's a cop-out. It's an easy way of looking at one symptom rather than addressing a whole disease," Mr Thompson said.

Mr Martin and Mr Miller conceded that the smuggled guns are not the only factor in the increase of violence. The mayor said poverty is another important element.

"There are neighbourhoods in Toronto where young people face barriers of poverty, discrimination, and don't have real hope and opportunity," Mr Miller said.

"The kind of programmes 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."

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

The bloodshed was the latest in a string of shootings that have rattled the city.

In November, an 18-year-old was fatally shot on the steps of a church while attending the funeral of a friend whose shooting death he may have witnessed a week earlier. Over the summer, a four-year-old boy was hit by stray bullets.

"I've seen this city change and I'm not pleased with it. We're doing everything we possibly can, but it seems to be not enough," said police sergeant Stan Belza. "It seems to be so brazen, so little regard for anyone else's safety. I don't understand the boldness of it all."

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