But Nunavut still leads nation in crimes of violence

Statistics Canada's national crime numbers for 2006 contain encouraging news for Nunavummiut – the territory's crime rate, especially for property crime, is dropping.

But they also show that while the Northwest Territories suffers from the highest overall crime rate in Canada, Nunavut, despite a slight drop, still owns the highest rate of violent crime.

Here are some Nunavut-specific highlights from Statistics Canada's latest crime report for 2006, showing the decline in crime rates since 2005.

• Crimes of violence (all categories): down by 9 per cent;
• Assaults: down by 5 percent;
• Sexual assaults: down by 36 per cent;
• Property crime (all categories): down by 25 per cent;
• Breaking and entering: down by 33 per cent;
• Mischief: up by 4 per cent;
• Drug offences (all categories): down by 25 per cent.

These numbers are based on police-reported incidents. They do not necessarily correspond to the number of actual charges laid against accused persons.

Source: Crime Statistics in Canada, 2006, released July 18.