Abbotsford, Mission top Canada's homicide ratings

The once sleepy B.C. farming communities of Abbotsford and Mission now have some big crime problems, with the highest homicide rate of any metropolitan area in Canada.

There were only eight homicides in the two Fraser Valley communities east of Vancouver in 2008, but with their combined population of 169,000, that gave them a rate of 4.7 homicides per 100,000 residents, according to a Statistics Canada report released on Tuesday.

It was not just homicides that were a problem in Abbotsford and Mission.

The new report, which was based on police records, also found the communities had the country's highest rate of breaking and entering, the second highest rate of vehicle theft and the second highest ranking, after Regina, on a new crime severity index that ranked the relative seriousness of offences based on court sentences.

Abbotsford Mayor George Peary blamed the high crime rates on avicious gang war that erupted in the region in recent years.

"Our community finds itself caught in the middle of gang warfare. And while the homicides are distressing, they are not random.These are targeted homicides, and the citizens of our community should feel safe, because they are not a target to be murdered," said Peary on Tuesday morning.

Peary also said progress has been made on reducing vehicle theft andburglary rates this year.

There was some good news in the report, which found that for the fifth year in a row, Canada's overall crime rate declined, this past year byfive per cent. But the report also found Canada's homicide rate rose bytwo per cent, largelyfroma rise in homicides in rural B.C. and Alberta.