Question for canadians?

Question

do you lock your door to your home at night? or even in the day time while your in the house. i heard people in canada dont lock your doors and im in the states and it is habit to always lock the door.

Additional Details

iam asking because of bowling for columbine and i just couldnt believe that evryone kept doors unlocked and hardly any crime. made me want to move to canada,i live in phoenix now.(lots a crime here)

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

I live in Toronto and I always lock my doors, it's a habit here. But for 4 years while I was in university in Waterloo (a small city of 100 000 an hour away from Toronto) we never locked our doors....the random people that would just walk in....lol.

Edit: Bowliing for Columbine is a documentary, and like all docs they're biased. It seemed like in that movie he was comparing Detroit to Windsor. His reason being that they are just a bridge over the border. But really Detriot is one of the most crime ridden cities in the U.S., while Windsor is a small quiet city.

A more realistic comparison would be Toronto vs. Phoenix. In Toronto we currently have 80 homicides this year, population of 5 million. It's going to be a new record. But Detroit had 500 last year, with a population of 1 million.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

thanks i thought it was to good to be true.

Answer 2

Yes in most areas, especially the large towns people still do lock their doors. But in small towns (just like in the US) they don't always do it during the day, but usually at night.

Answer 3

i lock my doors because i'm in the city. On the few times that i forgot, we were lucky nothing happened. Maybe it's a different vibe for canadians who live in suburbs (but i think not lately with all the house invasions we hear). Are you asking this question because you saw Bowling for Columbine? I swear, either Michael Moore was really lucky that all the doors he tested were opened or it was edited that way to prove his point.

Answer 4

ofc! it is ALWAYS advised and recommended to LOCK your doors eventhough you're in the house, regardless of where/ which country you live in. you can never be safe anywhere nowadays.. even here in canada, there are also alot of "things" that you wouldnt want to happen/ see happening to you or to any close friend/ family (if you know what i mean).

Answer 5

Years ago I never locked up at night, and never locked my car at home, but those days are long gone. In any city in Canada, one is crazy to leave the doors unlocked. Even the small community I live in outside Winnipeg has had break-ins, and I don't mean to make it too easy to get in. Years back, I discovered I could pick my lock, I have made it virtually pick-proof.

Answer 6

Lock it, or lose it in Abbotsford BC, Canada!
Crime is no more, or no less than other cities.
Taking in to consideration : Nothing is like it ever was, "In the good old days". ;-)

Answer 7

It depends on where you live. Some areas, yes indeed, the doors are rarely locked. I live in an area like this, although habits are slowly changing. As major cities expand, so do some nasty things. 10 years ago, not one of my neighbours would have locked their doors, but we're starting to see break ins from city folk that are taking advantage of that, when we're out of the house. Mind you, most of my neighbours will be on the look out anyway and will usually pop over if they see a strange car in the drive. If we're at home though, no...the doors are never locked. I'm in a rural area not all that far from a major city.

Answer 8

We live in Rural Ontario and rarely lock our doors unless we are going away for overnight. The only other times we lock our door is if we are going to be away and are leaving our dog home alone. If someone lets him out by opening the door they might not be able to get him back in the house.

Answer 9

It truly is dependent on where one lives in the country.

It's pretty much a given that larger urban areas along the southern border lock doors (on houses and cars) at all times - day and night, regardless of whether the owner is home or not.

However, in relatively remote rural areas - especially the north - it is far more common to leave both car and house unlocked year round (unless the owner is away for an extended period - typically more than about 3 days in a row). This is because of the harshness of the winter weather; someone caught outside in bad weather might see your porch light and need to come in before they freeze to death.

I admit ... that sounds pretty far-fetched to the average person who hasn't personally experienced it. But I've lived in Yellowknife, Whitehorse, Fort Simpson, and Hay River. There's even places in northen Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec that are the same way, even though the weather isn't quite as extreme. I've also been saved from severe frostbite because someone was kind enough to leave the door unlocked and the light on.

Answer 10

I live on the north shore of Montreal, Quebec. Although we are just outside a major urban centre, we rarely lock our doors when we are at home. The front door is usually locked, but in back is a patio door with one of those levers you can just pull up if it is not locked.

We will lock our doors if the family is going out, and our car doors are always locked now, as I was told you can be fined in most areas if you leave a car unattended and the doors unlocked. But the neighbours here all look out for one another, and we are not in a zone of high criminal activity.

For the record, we have been here since 1981 and in all that time, we have had one car break-in and one window smashed as if they were robbing the place but nothing in the house taken. Maybe we have been lucky.

They do have an interesting show on TV right now here called "It Takes a Thief". Two former burglars work with home-owners to show them how easy it is to break into their house, and then help them make the place more secure. I recommend anyone worried about break-ins to watch that show and see how easy it is to get in your home and what you can do to help prevent it or make the burglars want to go elsewhere.

Answer 11

If you are looking at Bowling for Columbine for the truth you'll have to look really hard.

Even in small towns everyone I know locks their doors. It would be pretty stupid not to these days.