Nunavut’s violent crime rate still leads nation

Nunavut’s rate of violent crime slowed a little in 2004, but it’s still rising fast enough to ensure that, yet again, the people of Nunavut suffered the highest rate of violent crime in Canada last year.

The numbers, released last month by Statistics Canada, also show that Nunavut is the only territory or province where violent crime is more common than property crime.

The Northwest Territories owned the highest overall crime rate in Canada, due to a high rate of property crime.

But Nunavut’s rate of violent crime is greater even than the NWT’s – in 2004, Nunavut’s rate of violent crime ran about eight times greater than Canada’s.

One of the biggest differences between Nunavut and the rest of Canada is the prevalence of sexual assault – in Nunavut, the per capita incidence of sexual assault is roughly 12 times higher than the rest of Canada.

Raw numbers, obtained by Nunatsiaq News from Statistics Canada last week, show 2,509 Nunavummiut were charged with at least one criminal offence in 2004. Of those, 2,026 are adults, and 483 are youths.

That represents about 8 per cent of Nunavut’s entire population, which stood at slightly more than 30,000 people in 2004. In other words, almost one person in 12 was charged with committing a crime.

As for crimes against the person, 1,063 adults and 95 youths in Nunavut were charged with a crime of violence in 2004 – mostly assault and sexual assault.

The only silver lining is that crime, including violent crime, appears to be growing more slowly now.

Between 2000 and 2001, the total number of persons charged with a criminal offence leapt by 14 per cent, but the rate of increase has been dropping ever since – down to 6.6 per cent between 2003-2004.

And despite Nunavut’s high rate of interpersonal violence, the number of homicides did not grow in 2004.

In 2004, three adults were charged with homicide, which includes either first or second degree murder or manslaughter. That’s exactly the same number of homicides that occurred in each of 2000, 2001 and 2003.

The number of people charged with attempted murder, however, was higher in 2004 – five adults and one youth.

All categories: Here’s how the raw number of people charged with all categories of crimes in Nunavut has risen since 1999:

* 1999: 1,362
* 2000: 1,681
* 2001: 1,921
* 2002: 2,180
* 2003: 2,354
* 2004: 2,509

Crimes of violence: Here’s how the raw number of people charged with crimes of violence in Nunavut has risen since 1999:

* 1999: 630
* 2000: 862
* 2001: 858
* 2002: 942
* 2003: 1,056
* 2004: 1,158