“Although police say no hard
evidence has been found to suggest foul play, there are some relatives,
including his brother Mike Sagal, who believe otherwise.” (from a news article)
There is a sound reason
for thinking that Terry’s disappearance is a result of foul play. Terry lived
in one of Canada’s most dangerous cities, statistically speaking.
Here are excerpts from Statistics
Canada for the year 2000:
Saskatchewan's crime rate of 12,730 criminal incidents
for every 100,000 population was the highest among the provinces for
a third consecutive year, followed by British Columbia (11,253) and Manitoba
(10,723). Newfoundland continued to have the lowest crime rate (5,711),
followed by Quebec (6,027).
Manitoba (2.6 per 100,000) and Saskatchewan (2.5)
reported the highest provincial homicide rates.
Among the 25 census metropolitan areas, the highest
overall crime rates in 2000 were reported in Regina, Saskatoon, Vancouver,
Victoria and Winnipeg.
Despite a 7%
decline, Regina reported the highest violent crime rate for a second
consecutive year, followed by Saskatoon and Thunder Bay.
Regina
(3.5 homicides per 100,000) and Saskatoon (3.0) also reported the
highest homicide rates, followed by Trois-Rivières (2.8) and
Chicoutimi-Jonquière (2.8).
The following excerpt is
from a 2009
Maclean’s magazine article:
Saskatoon
has the highest crime ranking in the Maclean’s survey, 163 per cent above the
national average. Winnipeg ranks second with a crime score 153 per cent above
average while Regina finishes third at 136 per cent. The same cities were in a
virtual three-way tie last year for the worst crime score.
The
three cities share several things in common: much of the crime is rooted in
poor, inner-city cores and targets its most vulnerable citizens. There is a
large gang presence feeding off the drug trade and other illegal activities.
Those areas also house a young transient population, with a low level of
education, substandard housing and high levels of unemployment, broken homes,
addictions and psychiatric issues—all risk factors for crime. They have
proportionately the highest urban Aboriginal populations among major cities,
about 10 per cent. This is a predominately young population, burdened with risk
factors. “They are 10 times more likely to be victims and suspects,” says Neil
Boyd, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University. “It’s basically a very tragic
reality.”
The statistics haven’t
improved much over the years. Here are the Canadian cities with the highest
“Crime Severity Index” for recent years:
2018 top five cities with the highest CSI:
- Lethbridge
(137).
- Regina
(126.6).
- Winnipeg
(119.4).
- Saskatoon
(118).
- Kelowna
(100.7).
2017 top five cities with the highest CSI:
- Saskatoon
(115).
- Edmonton
(112.3).
- Regina
(111.9).
- Winnipeg
(106.9).
- Kelowna
(98.2).
While the statistics
paint a grim picture, both my brothers who lived in Regina loved the city.
Family members have attended the university there. We have gone there to see
stage productions, to golf, shop, or dine out. As school kids, we would go
there to visit the legislative buildings or one of the many museums. Regina is,
after all, the province's capital city. But there are areas that you just
shouldn’t go to. When Darrel and I were distributing the Missing posters around
the city, the police were very emphatic about what areas we should not enter.
We heeded their warnings.
Their warnings also
served to validate my belief that Terry was the victim of foul play.
