Canadian High Commissioner to Jamaica, Denis Kingsley, has said that Jamaica needs to clean up its murder rate in order to attract foreign investments.

Mr. Kingsley made the statement while speaking Thursday, at the Rotary Club of Kingston's weekly luncheon meeting at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

"What should I tell someone (who might be a potential business interest) when they ask about the crime situation" he asked Rotarians.

The high commissioner said about 200,000 Jamaicans currently live in Canada, and that this country's level of crime and violence was affecting the North American nation.

"But we want to help," said Mr. Kingsley who assumed office late last year.

statistics on population

He presented statistics regarding the population of Canada and Jamaica and the crime rate of both countries. He stated that the population of Canada was 32.7 million with Toronto having about 2.5 million people, almost the same as Jamaica?s entire population.

However there were, said Mr. Kingsley, approximately 658 murders recorded in Canada in 2005 and about 54 killings in Toronto, as opposed to 1,674 murders in Jamaica for the same period.

"However, we do believe there is a desire to move forward in this country, "he said.

Despite the country's turbulent crime rate, the high commissioner said that Canada would still continue to assist Jamaica. He listed four major projects currently being undertaken between Canada and Jamaica. These include an exchange programme between Jamaica and the Canadian police forces, the Canadian Bar Association conducting a review of the Jamaican Justice system and a joint venture between a university in Canada and the University of West Indies, "studying why the youth turn to gangs".

Yesterday, Chief of the Toronto Police Service, Bill Blair, toured the Grants Pen Police Station in St. Andrew. The Canadian Government earlier this year contributed money to the community policing initiative in that area, which had seen a year without a homicide.