I’m having a debate on another forum with a guy who insists that Canada is a lot different to the UK socially, in so far as you can keep your front door unlocked whilst out about town and not fear getting burgled. Apparently, his source is Michael Moore’s BfC ( :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: ).
Is this, like I claim, a load of rubbish?
Well, I’ve lived in Hamilton and toronto, both in Ontario.
currently I live in an apartment in Hamilton, one of a small group of apartments above a group of shops. Generally I wouldn’t intentionally leave the door to any dwelling place unlocked if it was going to be unoccupied for more than about two and a half minutes. Not that crime is rampant or that you really expect someone to notice the door is unlocked and start swiping your stuff, it’s more like the ‘why tempt fate’ mentality I suppose. Might be different in really small towns and-or uber-friendly suburbs, couldn’t tell you.
As an odd aside, I’ve been switching back and forth between leaving my door unlocked when I run out to grab my laundry from the laundromat downstairs… the argument in favor of leaving the door unlocked is that I won’t be gone more than two minutes and it theoretically makes it easier to just open the door, laden down with a suitcase and a laundry basket that has seen better days structurally, both loaded with warm dry clothes.
The only problem is that climbing the stairs, walking up my hall, reaching into my pocket for my front door key and sticking it into the door has become one reflex action. If I’ve left the door unlocked, I generally realize it after I’ve already got the key in the door. :smack:
Hope this helps.
Disclaimer I can’t help throwing in… Your Canada Might Vary. (It’s a BIG place!!)
A life long Canadian chiming in, but I would say that it is bull. At least when living in any relatively urban area. I have never purposely left my door unlocked, ever. It’s been done a couple of times by accident, and FTR I wasn’t robbed, but I would never make a habit of it. By the way, I live in Northern BC, so we have a very low population density.
It may be different for those who live in rural areas, of which Canada has a lot, but even then, I would still lock my doors if I were going into town.
Now, if I’m at home, it’s 50/50 whether or not I lock my doors. Usually I leave the front open, with the screen door shut. At night I’ll close and lock them. IF I’m working outside in the backyard, I’ll lock the front up, but if I’m in the front, the back door will usually be unlocked or open in the summer
The city I live in is about 76,000 people and it’s the biggest around for about 400 - 600 km, depending on which way you go. Even in the smaller towns and villages, all doors are locked when people go out. Like every gathering of humans in the world, when you get above a certain number, you are bound to run across some ne’re do wells.
Not if you’re going far. Maybe if you are just going to the corner or something. At least not in Toronto. Most people I know lock it if they’re going out. When I was growing up people thought we were weird because we would leave the back door open instead of getting an extra key made.
Yeah, I remember Bowling For Columbine, and how Michael Moore barged in on various Canadians in demonstrating for the camera that their doors weren’t locked.
I also recall that all those Canadians seemed to be AT HOME at the time.
My doors are often unlocked when I’m at home. It’s when I’m OUT that I generally lock them.
The primary difference is that I live in Texas, where if Michael Moore wandered into my living room uninvited, I could just shoot him.
Well, Canada and the U.S. do have much lower rates of bugulary than England so your friend isn’t totally off base. I know lots of people in rural parts of the U.S. that don’t lock their door when they go out. My family lived in a house in Louisiana for five years and we didn’t even have a key to the door. I would imagine that less populated parts of Canada would be much the same.
You kind of hinted as to the nature of our debate.
Thanks anyway, it’s as I expected, mostly bull.
I live in a small-ish town and I only lock my door at night. Pretty much the same all through my childhood. Hell we lived in a house in a small city (30,000) and the locks didn’t even work and it was no big deal. It depends where you live really.
I grew up in Scarborough and go to school in Windsor.
In Windsor, we always lock the front door when we leave the house, though we quite often leave the backdoor open. Our front door is always open when we’re at home. I just make sure its locked before we go to sleep. This is because of something I was told in first year. “Lock your doors at night kids because students walking home hammered have been known to walk into the wrong room/house and end up spending the night.”
In Scarborough, the front door is always unlocked while we’re at home. We just lock it at night. So if Michael Moore has shown up at either house that I live at, he could’ve walked right in.
Man… maybe I should have gone to university in Windsor after all.
When I’m walking the hound I leave the door unlocked. Other than that it’s pretty well always locked, even when I’m home.
My parents are rural and they only lock the door at night.
I don’t leave my doors unlocked and I don’t know anyone who does.
I lived in a small town; we only locked the front door at night or when we were out of town. My relatives in Toronto don’t lock the door when they’re at home, but of course they lock it when they go out.
…who does Michael Moore think he’s kidding? 
I lock the door when I go out, and Hamish usually locks the door at night, but we don’t pay a whole lot of attention when we’re in the house, and we don’t have a peephole or one of those little chain things.
Sorry, no Canadian data here, but an Australian anecdote always has a place, right?
We live “in town” in our town of 25,000 and while we commonly leave the doors unlocked while we’re home, we lock them when we leave the house. My aunt and uncle live just outside of town on a farmlet, and always leave their door unlocked even when they’re out. There’s a lot of variations not just between people but also between neighbourhoods. In rural Canada, it’s probably more common for people on farms to leave their doors unlocked just like it is here, and probably is in the US too. Once you get into an urban area, then people start locking their doors. Maybe it’s true that “most” Canadians don’t lock their doors, but it would probably also need to be true that “most” Canadians live in rural areas. Most city-dwelling Canadians probably carry keys and even lock the door when they’re home.
I’ve lived in residential parts of Ottawa for many years- generally only locked doors at night and when gone. Once had to chase down the mailman when he left a registered parcel for another house inside the front door. That’s actually the only reason I locked it during the day for a while.
When living in apartments, it varied with the amount of stranger traffic we would get by the door. Usually locked though- it wasn’t always the best neighborhood.
Not quite a hijack, but I don’t think Moore said we left our houses unlocked when on vacation. Someone feel free to correct me.
I usually lock up. I have friends that usually do not lock up unless on vacation. Pretty much depends on the neighborhood. I first started locking up because a retired cop was in the habit of walking in and shouting “are you home” when I was sitting on the pot in the washroom beside the front door – startled the shit out of me on several occasions, so I started locking.
I didn’t read the thread yet, but I skimmed it, so apologies if this has been said. I just want to add that if the point is that Canadians are less fearful than Americans, you have to sample Americans too. And I know at least a few people in the US that leave their doors unlocked.
Growing up the house was never locked. Heck, first 10 years of my life, there was no lock. Mom and Dad still don’t lock the door. And vehicles are left parked with keys in the ignition, too. Course, that’s out on the farm. I don’t know any urban-dwellers that don’t lock their doors.