Violent crime against young women, girls three times higher in the North

Though young women and girls in Nunavut experienced severe rates of violent crime in 2017, their counterparts in northern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba fared much worse, Statistics Canada found in a report released earlier this month.

That finding is part of a big study that attempts to measure rates of violent crime against females aged 24 and younger in northern Canada and compare them with rates for the same group in southern Canada.

In their report, StatCan found that overall, young women in northern Canada are disproportionately victimized compared with young women in southern Canada.

“In the North, females accounted for just under half (48 per cent) of the population aged 24 and younger, but nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) of victims of violent crime in the North were female,” StatCan said.

“In fact, young women and girls in the North were over-represented as victims of violent crime whether they were compared with all females, all young Canadians, or all Canadians in the North.”

For the purposes of the study, Statistics Canada defines the “North” as the three territories plus the northern regions of Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland-Labrador and the four western provinces.

Overall, 12,036 young women and girls aged 24 and younger in the North were victims of a police-reported violent crime in 2017.

That produced a rate of violent crime against young women and girls that’s about three times higher than the rate for young women and girls in southern Canada and nearly twice the rate for young men and boys in the North, StatCan said.

Violence rates highest in northern Saskatchewan

Of all the northern regions, StatCan found that northern Saskatchewan, by a wide margin, suffers from the highest rate of police-reported violent crime against women and girls aged 24 and younger in 2017: 13,886 per 100,000.

Northern Manitoba was second, with a rate of 9,015 per 100,000 and the Northwest Territories stood third at 8,909 per 100,000.

Nunavut was fourth, with a rate of 7,491 per 100,000.

In comparison, the rate in southern Canada in 2017 was 1,235 per 100,000.

Also, the raw police-reported numbers for Nunavut women and girls aged 24 and younger in 2017 reveal the following:

• Sexual offences: 144 young female victims.

• Physical assault offences: 451 young female victims.

• Criminal harassment and threat offences: 590 young female victims.

This bar graph shows the difference between the North and southern Canada in violent crime rates, by the age and gender of victims. (Statistics Canada image)

Dramatic difference in physical assault rate

The study also found northern Canada’s higher rates of physical assaults against young women account for much of the difference between northern and southern Canada.

“That said, by far the biggest discrepancy was for physical assault-related offences, for which rates were nearly four (3.9 x) times higher among young women and girls in the North than in the South (2,283 victims per 100,000 population versus 581).”

Also, 45 per cent of young women in the North who suffered from physical assaults suffered injuries, compared with only 32 per cent in southern Canada.

Homicide rate three times higher

As for homicides, the study found that between 2009 and 2017, 74 young women in the North were victims of homicide and that of those, 56 were Indigenous.

That produced a homicide rate for young women in the North for 2017 that was three times higher than the national average.

At the same time, the homicide rate for young men and boys in the North was even higher.

“However, when comparing the North with the South, the gap in homicide rate was widest among young women and girls (more than three times higher in the North for young females overall, compared with just over two times higher in the North for young males,)” StatCan said.

This table shows the raw numbers, and the rates per 100,000, for violent crimes committed against girls and young women in northern Canada. (Statistics Canada image)

Victims usually know their assailants

As for the perpetrators of violent crime against young women in the North, most are either intimate partners, casual acquaintances or family members of the victims, StatCan found.

And 95 per cent of victims knew their assailants before being attacked.

“In 2017, over two in five (44 per cent) young female victims of police-reported violent crimes in the North had been victimized by an intimate partner or spouse.”

“More than one in five (22 per cent) had been victimized by a casual acquaintance. Another 20 per cent experienced violence at the hands of a family member, which can include a parent, a grandparent, an aunt, an uncle, a cousin or a sibling.”

And the study also confirmed that younger victims were more likely to be abused by family members, while older victims were more likely to be victimized by intimate partners.

“As research has often found with young victims of violent crime, girls younger than age 12 in the North were most commonly victimized by a family member (54 per cent), while young women aged 18 to 24 in the North were most commonly victimized by an intimate partner (61 per cent,)” StatCan said.

Police more likely to identify northern perpetrators

One difference between northern and southern Canada is that in the North, the police are more likely to be able to identify the perpetrators of violent crimes against young women and girls: in 81 per cent of incidents in the North, but only 68 per cent of incidents in southern Canada.

“This may be attributable in part to the realities of smaller communities where residents are more likely to know each other, making it easier for police to identify an accused,” StatCan said.

At the same time, there was no significant difference in the proportion of criminal charges involving young female victims laid in the North (70 per cent) compared with those in southern Canada (70 per cent,) StatCan found.

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