Home > 99,000 Canadians reported family violence in 2010
Thursday, May 24, 2012 - 16:49
Saskatchewan reported highest reported rate of provinces, Ontario the lowest: StatsCan
About 99,000 Canadians were victim to police-reported domestic violence in 2010, according to a Statistics Canada report, with Saint John, N.B., having the highest rate per 100,000 people and Ottawa having the lowest.
The report indicates[1] almost half of the reports had a spouse accused of the violence. Women were also almost twice as likely to be a victim of domestic abuse in 2010.
Ottawa had the lowest rate of reported domestic violence per a population of 100,000 people in 2010. The five cities who reported the least amount of family violence were:
Ottawa
Peterborough, Ont.
St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont.
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont.
Guelph, Ont.
Ottawa, Gatineau at opposite ends of spectrum
Ottawa had 98 reported victims of family violence per 100,000 people, almost half the rate of Peterborough, the next lowest metropolitan area, which had 172 reported victims per 100,000 people.
Gatineau, Que.'s rate — 320 victims per 100,000 — is more than three times that of its Ontario neighbour Ottawa. But police spokesman Const. Pierre Lanthier said his police force has a high-profile prevention unit, and that may be helping more people come forward.
"The victims are really afraid when something like that happens. Just by the fact that they are willing to talk to police officers, that's a really good thing for us," said Lanthier.
Of the provinces, Ontario had the lowest[3] police-reported rates. The province with the highest rate was Saskatchewan, while Nunavut reported the highest rate among the territories.
The two other key findings in the report had reported dating violence higher than spousal violence, and more children reported witnessing domestic violence in 2009 compared to 2004.
