Numbers of victims of crime in territories down in 2014

The number of people victimized by a crime in the three territories dropped between 2009 and 2014, butthe number of people reporting a crime to the police has gone up, according to a new Statistics Canada report.

More than one-quarter of people living in the territories (28 per cent) reported being the victim of at least one crime in 2014, down from 34 per cent in 2009.

The provincial average was 18 per cent.

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The information is collected through police-reported data from the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, and self-reported data collected through the General Social Survey.

"For the most part the majority of the crimes experienced by residents of the territories were non-violent in nature," said Kathy AuCoin with Statistics Canada's Centre for Justice Statistics.

The most frequently reported crime was physical assault at 32 per cent followed by theft at 30 per cent.

Violent incidents decreased by 29 per cent and household victimization decreased by 34 per cent.

This is also the first time the General Social Survey asked respondents whether they had been a victim of some form of child maltreatment before the age of 15 at the hands of an adult.

Approximately one-third of people living in the territories (34 per cent) reported having been the victim of abuse by an adult at least once before the age of 15. This proportion was higher among those aged 45 to 64 years, (45 per cent) than those aged 15 to 34 years (26 per cent).

"When we dug further into the data we noticed that those people who had experienced that form of victimization, they were two-and-a-half times more likely to report being a victim of a crime than someone who said they had not experienced any maltreatment," said AuCoin.

Highest rates of violent victimization in Nunavut

Nunavut recorded the highest rates of both violent victimization (241 per 1,000 population) and household victimization (313 per 1,000 population) among the territories.

"While the numbers in Nunavut have been higher than average in Canada, we have noticed that we have consistently declined," said RCMP Cpl. David Lawson.

Lawson added that the increased calls for service received by the RCMP may be a factor in the rate of victimization.

On the other hand Nunavut also reported the lowest rate of theft of personal property (68 per 1,000 population).

'Still seeing some troubling trends'

"I noticed that we are still seeing some troubling trends," said Hillary Aitken, the program co-ordinator at Whitehorse's Victoria Faulkner Women's Centre.

"The severity of violence remains high especially for victims of spousal violence and violent victimization is still higher among women."

Among people with a spouse or common-law partner (current or ex), 12 per cent reported at least one spousal violence incident in the previous five years, similar to the rates reported in 2009. Three-quarters (75 per cent) of victims were Aboriginal.

Despite these concerns, Aitken did point to a few encouraging trends.

"The confidence in our police force has increased especially in the Yukon so that makes me hopeful," said Aitken.

She added that reporting rates are still low, especially for spousal violence and sexualassault but that perhapsthe increasingtrust in the police will help change those statistics.

Almost half (49 per cent) of cases of spousal violence were reported to the police, and so were 36 per cent of victimization incidents other than spousal violence.

'Culture of silence'

Overall, the proportion of people who reported being the victim of at least one crime was higher in communities with a population of 2,000 or more (32 per cent) than in smaller communities (19 per cent).

Hawa Dumbuya-Sesay a program co-ordinator with the Yellowknife Victim Services, says there is more awareness as well as access to social and support services in bigger cities.

"If you're from a small community, everybody knows everybody, and they have this culture of silence," said Dumbuya-Sesay.

She recalls working with one woman at the Yellowknife Victim Serviceswho was the victim of a serious attack.

Because she was from a small isolated community she was unable to access the help she needed to break out from the cycle of alcohol addiction and violence at home.

After getting severely injured the woman was medevaced to Yellowknife.

"It saved her life and she was able to access more resources that are available in Yellowknife," said Dumbuya-Sesay.

The woman made the decision to stay in Yellowknife where she was able to continue to access supports and rebuild her life.