Northern residents most likely to suffer violence: StatsCan

People living in the territories are three times more likely than other Canadians to be the victims of violence yet they more often report feeling safe from crime, says Statistics Canada.

Nearly 40 per cent of residents of the territories aged 15 and over reported that they were victimized at least once in the 12 months prior to being interviewed. That compares to 28 per cent for provincial residents.

The survey, prepared by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics and released Monday, was conducted in 2004.

The report's authors say higher rates of victimization in the North— sexual assault, robbery and physical assault— are the result of a number of economic and social factors.

"Northern residents tend to be younger on average than residents in the rest of Canada; they have higher proportions of lone-parent families and common-law families; they have higher rates of unemployment and they have higher proportions of aboriginal residents, compared to the provinces," the authors wrote.

Despite their higher rate of victimization, 54 per cent of northern residents said they were "very satisfied" with their personal safety from crime, compared to 44 per centof residents in the rest of Canada.

They are also less likely to take special precautions for keeping themselves safe, such as locking the car doors when alone in a car, planning a route with safety in mind and staying at home at night.

About 64 per cent of northern residents said they routinely take precautions compared to 76 per cent of provincial residents.

Residents of Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut were more likely to be victimized by someone they knew. This was the case for 80 per centof incidents, compared to 56 per centof those against provincial residents.

Despite their higher rates of victimization, northern residents were no more likely than those living in the provinces to report incidents to the police. More than 7 in 10 incidents of violent crime committed against territorial residents were not reported to police.

This was despite the fact thatvictims in the North were more likely than those in the provinces to suffer injury. Forty-three per cent of violent incidents committed against northerners resulted in injury, compared to one-quarter of violent incidents in the provinces.

The report also found that among the three territories, the violent crime rate was highest in Nunavut, followed closely by Northwest Territories.

While Yukon's rate was less than half that of the other territories, it was still more than 1.5 times higher than the highest provincial rate, found in Saskatchewan.