Canada murder rate in 2020 hits 15-year high, pushed up by mass shooting

FILE PHOTO: Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) block the entrance to Portapique Beach Road after they finished their search for Gabriel Wortman, who they describe as a shooter of multiple victims, in Portapique, Nova Scotia, Canada April 19, 2020. REUTERS/John Morris/File Photo

(Reuters) -The murder rate in Canada last year rose to its highest level since 2005, pushed up in part by the country's worst-ever mass shooting, in which 22 people died, Statistics Canada said on Thursday.

Statscan also noted societal stresses it said had been caused by lockdowns linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.