On Oct. 2, a man was stabbed to death on St-Laurent Boulevard. Twelve days earlier, police reported a stabbing in Ottawa’s south end. Ten days before that, a person was stabbed in the Bayshore area. In late August, a Jewish woman was the victim of a high-profile stabbing in a grocery store.
There have been eight reported stabbings across Ottawa since July. CTV News reported police as saying seven of the 14 homicides in Ottawa so far this year have been “stabbing-related.”
The motives have varied from verbal altercations to hate crimes; the attackers have ranged in age from 18 to 71.
What these attacks have in common is the weapon of choice. And while there are huge gaps in available data, knife violence appears to be on the upswing, even as police and government authorities place renewed emphasis on gun crackdowns.
According to CTV News reports compiled into a data sheet by Capital Current, there were nine reported stabbings in 2023. There were 22 reported stabbings in 2024. In the first 10 months of 2025, there have already been 22 reported stabbings.
This interactive map shows the stabbings in Ottawa from July 1 to Oct. 2.
While guns are heavily policed — licences are required and the federal government has grappled with gun-control for years — there are no tracking measures for knives. From purchasing them online, to visiting a kitchen or hunting store, to grabbing them from novelty shops, knives are more accessible.
A 2008 study by Statistics Canada concluded knives were increasingly being used in violent crimes. But Statistics Canada told Capital Current last week that it has not published “any recent analysis specifically on knife violence in Canada.”
Yet concern among some over knife crime is not a new issue. In 2008, the police chief in Kingston, Ont., Bill Closs, spoke at a House of Commons committee about the explosion of criminal knife use and the inevitable lethal consequences.
Closs pointed to Statistics Canada data indicating that in 2005, only 31 per cent of victims were attacked with guns, while 68 per cent were attacked with knives or other sharp objects. In the same year, 19 Ontario jurisdictions reported 25 per cent of victims were attacked with guns, while 75 per cent were attacked with knives or other sharp objects.
Within section 84 (1) and sections 91-92 of the Criminal Code, which focus heavily on various guns, replicas and ammunition, certain kinds of knives are prohibited: those that open automatically by gravity, centrifugal force or hand pressure, such as switchblades. But the emphasis of the code is clearly on firearms.
The difficulty is that knives are sold frequently and for legitimate purposes. Notes Ian McLeod, Justice Canada’s senior media relations adviser, “While the retail sale of ordinary knives is not federally restricted, criminal liability may arise if they are sold or provided for unlawful purposes, or if possession becomes unlawful under section 88 (possession for a dangerous purpose).”
“This layered approach balances public safety with the practical and lawful use of knives, while allowing jurisdictions to tailor responses to local risks,” he said in a statement.
We also need to address the root causes of the violence we’re seeing in our communities. That means ensuring people, especially youth, can access mental health care when they need it, without barriers. Without adequate support, including mental health professionals in our schools, we might end up seeing more of this type of violence
Ottawa West-Nepean MPP Chandra Pasma
Novelty store This N’ That, at Bayshore Mall, sells a wide variety of knives. ID is required at the time of purchase.
“We get a lot of interesting people, lots of kids trying to buy them,” said Coleby Squires, an employee at This N’ That.
Ottawa Police Services’ crime maps, analytics and annual reports also focus mainly on gun violence, with knives rarely listed. Although stabbings can fall under the homicide and attempted murder categories, there is no dedicated section on knives that is publicly available.
In a statement to Capital Current, Const. Fern John-Simon stated, “We strongly encourage anyone who has been a victim of a violent crime to report it to police.”
Spreadsheet of CTV reports on stabbings in Ottawa from Jan. 1, 2023, to Oct. 2, 2025, compiled by Capital Current
David Joubert, an associate professor of Criminology at the University of Ottawa, said the problem with police statistics is that they mesh together attacks with different kinds of weapons (or none at all), making it hard to separate the data into useful groups.
“OPS and law enforcement organizations publish statistics often as an afterthought. The quality of the data is of secondary importance. They don’t have much commitment to it; it’s not really part of the organizational culture,” said Joubert. “For them, it’s more part of a ‘public relations’ thing, but nothing is in-depth.”
Joubert said more preventative measures are needed.
“Some measures may be helpful, including in the school setting … make it more difficult for younger people to purchase knives online. Especially the fancy combat knives, swords and such. There should probably be a background check for such things,” Joubert said.
“Even the garden-variety home knife can be dangerous, and they are often used in domestic altercations. It may be possible to redesign this type of knife so it’s not as dangerous by blunting the tip a bit. I never use the point for anything except to open packages, so it’s not really essential to, say, cut a steak.”
In a statement, Ottawa West-Nepean MPP Chandra Pasma said the increase in knife violence “highlights the urgent need to do more to address violence and hate in our province.”
“We also need to address the root causes of the violence we’re seeing in our communities. That means ensuring people, especially youth, can access mental health care when they need it, without barriers. Without adequate support, including mental health professionals in our schools, we might end up seeing more of this type of violence,” Pasma said.
