Northern Ontario not on list of best and worst Canadian cities for women

A new study looks at the best and worst Canadian cities for women to live in — but you won't see a single northern Ontario city on that list.

The study from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives ranks cities across the country for women's equality, but the furthest north you'll get in Ontario is Barrie.

Study author Kate Macinturff said her research was at the mercy of government statistics. The study is based on government data that's collected in the 25 largest census metropolitan areas in Canada. 

There are statistics for smaller regions, including those in northern Ontario, but Macinturff said the sample size is not enough to make a good comparison to other cities.

"To track the same information for any of the cities in the country, including all of the cities in the north, they don't survey enough people to have results for those communities," she told CBC News.

The study looked at areas including women's pay equity, political representation and sexual violence.

Macinturff noted northern communities have unique challenges, like a shortage of sexual healthcare and women's shelters — and she wants to see more comprehensive data.

"We're making decisions a little bit in the dark because we're not actually tracking what kinds of programs are working in different communities," she said.

Different realities

Gaetane Pharand, executive director of Centre Victoria pour femme, a sexual assault crisis centre in Sudbury, said more data needs to be collected in the north. 

"They're just not tracking it," she said. "It's not part of their reality because the numbers don't speak as much. And we're rarely present."

Without good data, the unique needs of northern Ontario are not considered when government funding decisions are made, Pharand said. Government applies southern Ontario thinking to northern Ontario problems.

"When we sit with ministers we say, 'you have an over-representation of southern Ontario.' The services can't always look the same. It can't always be treated the same because of the realities that are different," she said.

Researchers hope to profile a smaller community in next year's study.

• Read the report here.

​Victoria sits atop the list of 25 Canadian cities that are ranked in the study done by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The study says a strong gap remains between the sexes among five areas examined: economic security, education, health, leadership and personal security.

Here is the list of 25 Canadian cities ranked best to worst:

1. Victoria, B.C.
2. Gatineau, Que.
3. Quebec City
4. Abbotsford-Mission, B.C.
5. Halifax
6. London, Ont.
7. Vancouver
8. Barrie, Ont.
9. Montreal
10. Oshawa, Ont.
11. Ottawa
12. Toronto
13. Kelowna, B.C.
14. Regina
15. St. John's, N.L.
16. St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont.
17. Kingston, Ont.
18. Winnipeg
19. Sherbrooke, Que.
20. Hamilton, Ont.
21. Saskatoon
22. Windsor, Ont.
23. Calgary
24. Edmonton
25. Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont.