Transit violence rising across Canada in some cities, by nearly 300% | CBC News

"The video made the rounds on social media in the summer of 2023. It shows two men fighting inside a Toronto subway car before one of them suddenly starts running away, screaming for help. An instant later, another passenger yells: "He's stabbing him up," and a flood of onlookers flee the violence. As the person recording the scene joins the rush, they point the camera at the floor to capture what looks like a trail of blood."

"Derek Dyckhoff was stabbed at least 10 times in the attack. "I died on the operating table once and I'm pretty sure I was this close to dying on the subway floor," Dyckhoff told CBC News and the Investigative Journalism Foundation (IJF). The stabbing was part of a troubling trend affecting several cities across Canada identified in a collaborative investigation between CBC's visual investigations unit and the IJF. The last decade has seen a dramatic spike in reports of violent crimes on transit systems in the Toronto area and several other metro regions, out of proportion with overall crime trends, according to exclusive Statistics Canada data."

"The cumulative number of assaults reported on transit in eight of Canada's 10 largest census metropolitan areas regions that encompass about half the country's population doubled between 2016 and 2024. That's far out of proportion with the 53 per cent increase in assaults across all types of locations in those regions over the same period."

A video from summer 2023 captured a Toronto subway stabbing in which Derek Dyckhoff was stabbed at least 10 times and nearly died, with a visible trail of blood. The incident reflects a broader surge in violent incidents on public transit across multiple Canadian metropolitan regions over the last decade. Statistics Canada data show the cumulative number of assaults on transit in eight of Canada's ten largest census metropolitan areas doubled between 2016 and 2024, while assaults across all locations in those regions rose 53 percent. Transit assaults remain above pre-pandemic levels.

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