Nunavut’s violent crime numbers continue to rise

Driven by soaring numbers of sexual assaults and assaults, Nunavut continues to suffer from the highest per person rate of violent crime in Canada, according to numbers released last week by Statistics Canada.

The numbers were gathered by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, through what they call the Uniform Crime Reporting, or “UCR” survey. In plain language, that means their information is collected the same way in every province and territory, from one year to the next.

In Canada, the overall crime rate in 2002 remained almost unchanged from 2001. But in Nunavut, the crime rate rose by 11.9 per cent in the same period.

That rate of increase, however, is lower than in previous years. Between 2000 and 2001, for example, Nunavut’s crime rate jumped by 21.6 per cent.

In Nunavut, the raw numbers show that between 1999 and 2002, actual incidents of police-reported crime rose dramatically — from 5,187 incidents in 1999 to 8,716 incidents in 2002.

As for violent crime, actual incidents in Nunavut rose from 1,417 in 1999 to 2,037 in 2002. Property crime incidents rose from 1,176 in 1999 to 1,753 incidents in 2002.

When those raw numbers are translated into “rates,” they show that in most categories, the number of crimes committed per person in Nunavut is four times higher than the rate for all of Canada.

They show that the rate of property crime is only one and a half times higher than in all of Canada, but that the rate of violent crime in Nunavut is about seven times higher.

In sex offences, Nunavut is in a class all by itself. Nunavut’s sexual offence rate is more than 10 times the rate for all of Canada.

The raw numbers show that this not a statistical distortion caused by Nunavut’s small population. In 2002, there were 292 police-reported sex offences in Nunavut.

But in Prince Edward Island, whose population of about 140,000 is five times greater than Nunavut’s population of 27,800, there were only 162 reported sexual assaults.

The Northwest Territories has the highest overall crime rate in Canada, largely due to huge numbers of property crimes, such as theft over $5,000, fraud, and possession of stolen goods.

As for cannabis offences, the raw number of incidents is slowly falling in Nunavut. In 2000, there were 130 police-reported incidents of cannabis possession, but only 112 in 2002.

Police-reported cannabis trafficking incidents, on the other hand, are increasing. In 2000 there were 89 in Nunavut, but in 2002, there were 119.

Overall, however, the rate of all drug possession and trafficking incidents in Nunavut was four times higher than in all of Canada in 2002.

As for homicides, between 1999 and 2002, there have been two or three per year in Nunavut. Because of the small number, the rate of increase or decrease fluctuates wildly from one year to the next.