Fact sheet
Nunavut

Victims of police-reported violent crime in Nunavut, 2016

There were 2,707 victims of violent crime and criminal traffic offences causing death or bodily harm reported by police in Nunavut in 2016. This represented 7,300 victims per 100,000 population, more than seven times the national rate and the highest rate among all provinces and territories (Table A).
Most (82%) victims of police-reported crime were adults aged 18 and older; 61% were aged 25 and older. Meanwhile, 12% of victims were youth aged 12 to 17 and 6% were children under age 12. When controlling for population, the rate of victimization was highest among young adults aged 18 to 24 (Table 14.1).
Over three-quarters (77%) of victims of police-reported crime in 2016 were victims of assault: 58% were victims of common assault (level 1) and 15% were victims of major assault (level 2 or 3).^Note Assault victims accounted for four in five (81%) of adult victims, adult victims of police-reported violent crime. In comparison, assault accounted for almost three-fifths (58%) of child and youth victims (Table 14.1). Rates of assault were highest among young adults.
Overall, 9% of police-reported victims were victims of sexual offences. However, these offences were much more prevalent among child and youth victims that came to the attention of police. Among child victims (under age 12), 9% were victims of sexual assault (all sexual assault level 1) and another 25% were victims of sexual violations against children.^Note For youth victims (aged 12 to 17), 8% were victims of sexual assault (all sexual assault level 1) and 19% were victims of sexual violations against children (Table 14.1). Among victims of all ages, rates of police-reported sexual assault were highest among youth aged 16 to 17 while sexual violations against children were highest among youth aged 12 to 15 years.
Over one in eight (13%) police-reported victims in 2016 were victims of other violent offences including uttering threats (10%) (Table 14.1).
Almost two-thirds (64%) of police-reported victims were female, the highest percentage among the provinces and territories. However, they represented a much larger proportion of victims of sexual offences (95%) and of some other violent offences such as indecent and harassing communications (86%) and criminal harassment (79%) (Table 14.2).
Assault was the most common police-reported offence among both male (83%) and female (73%) victims in 2016. Meanwhile, 14% of female victims were victims of sexual offences (9% sexual assault—almost all level 1—and 5% sexual violations against children). In comparison, 1% of male victims were victims of sexual offences (Table 14.2).
Male and female victims of police-reported sexual offences differed notably by age. Overall, among female victims of all sexual offences, 53% were either children under the age of 12 (19%) or youth aged 12 to 17 (34%). Of all female child and youth victims, 42% were victims of sexual offences: 12% were sexual assault and 30% were sexual violations against children (Table 14.3).
Compared to females, a much larger proportion (77%) of male victims of police-reported sexual offences were either children (62%) or youth (15%). Despite this, sexual offences were still less common among young male child and youth victims, representing 6% of victims (compared to 42% for their female counterparts). Instead, assault was the most common (79%) offence for male child and youth victims (Table 14.3).

Victim services in Nunavut

In Nunavut, the Department of Justice’s Victim Services has an office in Iqaluit and provides territory-wide system-based programming to victims of crime and their family members. Given the geographic challenges of providing services in the territory, communities outside of Iqaluit do not have permanent local victim services staff. In these communities, victims generally receive support from the Victim Services Program by telephone or by referral to local services. In addition, victim service staff will go into the communities to provide support as required. The Victim Services Program provides travel assistance to enable victims to participate in court proceedings, and receive court orientation and accompaniment and assistance with Victim Impact Statements. In addition, the territory provides funding to community-based agencies and wellness offices including short-term specialized community-based programs available to victims and perpetrators of domestic violence, and to women and children leaving abusive situations.

The information provided below represents the number of victims who received direct services from Nunavut’s Victim Services between July and December of 2016. If an individual is the victim in multiple cases with the same or different accused person(s) during the reference period, the case is maintained as one open file and counted as one victim.^Note Information is not available for victims who only received assistance from wellness offices and other sources/agencies.

In addition to files opened in previous years, Nunavut’s Victim Services opened 35 new files for 58 victims of crime in the second half of 2016.^Note
Children and youth accounted for 20% of victims assisted by the program.
About three-quarters (74%) of victims served were female; 26% were male.
Almost all of the victims who received assistance (98%) were victims of violent crime.^Note Nearly one-third (32%) were victims of physical assault, and another 42% were victims of sexual assault.
In 2016, Nunavut’s Victim Services provided 35 Victim Impact Statement forms to victims, and filed 22 Victim Impact Statements to the courts. In addition, 2 Community Impact Statements were also filed.

Note: Percentages have been calculated excluding unknowns. Percentages may not add up to totals due to rounding. Not all percentages presented in the text are provided in the tables. No tables are provided for the Canadian Victim Services Indicators (CVSI) data.

Detailed data tables

Table 14.1
Victims of police-reported violent crime and traffic violations causing death or bodily harm, by type of offence and age group of victim, Nunavut, 2016
Table summary
This table displays the results of Victims of police-reported violent crime and traffic violations causing death or bodily harm. The information is grouped by Type of offence (appearing as row headers), Age group, Total victims, Child victims
under 12 years, Youth victims, Adult victims, 12 to 15 years, 16 to 17 years, 18 to 24 years and 25 years and older, calculated using number and percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Type of offence	Age group										Total victims^{Table 14.1 Note 1}
	Child victims under 12 years		Youth victims				Adult victims
	Child victims under 12 years		12 to 15 years		16 to 17 years		18 to 24 years		25 years and older
	number	percent^{Table 14.1 Note 1}	number	percent^{Table 14.1 Note 1}	number	percent^{Table 14.1 Note 1}	number	percent^{Table 14.1 Note 1}	number	percent^{Table 14.1 Note 1}	number	percent^{Table 14.1 Note 1}
Violent Criminal Code offences
Violations causing death and attempted murder	4	40	0	0	0	0	1	10	5	50	10	100
Homicide and other offences causing death^{Table 14.1 Note 2}	1	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	100
Attempted murder	3	33	0	0	0	0	1	11	5	56	9	100
Sexual offences	53	21	66	26	19	7	54	21	62	24	254	100
Sexual assault	14	9	7	5	18	12	54	35	62	40	155	100
Sexual assault (level 3)—aggravated	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sexual assault (level 2)—weapon or causing bodily harm	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	100	1	100
Sexual assault (level 1)	14	9	7	5	18	12	54	35	61	40	154	100
Sexual violations against children^{Table 14.1 Note 3}	39	39	59	60	1	1	Note ...: not applicable	Note ...: not applicable	Note ...: not applicable	Note ...: not applicable	99	100
Assaults	83	4	115	6	79	4	443	21	1,359	65	2,079	100
Assault (level 3)—aggravated	3	9	0	0	0	0	5	15	26	76	34	100
Assault (level 2)—weapon or causing bodily harm	10	3	18	5	12	3	82	21	261	68	383	100
Assault (level 1)	70	4	97	6	66	4	351	22	987	63	1,571	100
Other^{Table 14.1 Note 4}	0	0	0	0	1	1	5	5	85	93	91	100
Other violent offences	14	4	18	5	17	5	70	20	232	66	351	100
Robbery	0	0	1	17	0	0	1	17	4	67	6	100
Criminal harassment	1	3	0	0	2	7	6	21	20	69	29	100
Indecent/harassing communications	0	0	0	0	1	4	3	11	24	86	28	100
Uttering threats	12	5	11	4	10	4	54	21	171	66	258	100
Kidnapping, forcible confinement, abduction or hostage taking	1	5	3	14	4	18	3	14	11	50	22	100
Trafficking in persons and prostitution	0	0	3	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	100
Other^{Table 14.1 Note 5}	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	60	2	40	5	100
Criminal Code traffic violations causing death or bodily harm^{Table 14.1 Note 6}
Impaired driving and other traffic violations causing death^{Table 14.1 Note 6}	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Impaired driving and other traffic violations causing bodily harm^{Table 14.1 Note 6}	5	38	0	0	2	15	0	0	6	46	13	100
Total victims	159	6	199	7	117	4	568	21	1,664	61	2,707	100
... not applicable Note 1 Total victims includes victims where the age was unknown. Percentage calculations exclude victims where the age was unknown. Return to note 1 referrer Note 2 Excludes Criminal Code traffic violations causing death such as impaired driving. Return to note 2 referrer Note 3 Sexual violations against children are a set of Criminal Code offences that specifically concern offences involving child and youth victims. These include offences such as sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual exploitation, but exclude sexual assault and other sexual offences not specific to children. See the “Definitions” section for a full list of offences in this category. Return to note 3 referrer Note 4 Includes assaults against police and other peace officers, and other types of assaults such as criminal negligence causing bodily harm. Return to note 4 referrer Note 5 Includes violent firearm offences, extortion and other violent violations. Return to note 5 referrer Note 6 Includes dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop and other Criminal Code traffic violations. Return to note 6 referrer Note: Victims refer to those aged 89 years and younger. Victims aged 90 years and older are excluded from analyses due to possible instances of miscoding of unknown age within this age category. Percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding. For police-reported incidents that involve violations against the person, a victim record is collected for each victim involved in the incident. If an individual is a victim in multiple incidents in the same reference year, that individual will be counted as one victim for each separate incident. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey.

Table 14.2
Victims of police-reported violent crime and traffic violations causing death or bodily harm, by type of offence and sex of victim, Nunavut, 2016
Table summary
This table displays the results of Victims of police-reported violent crime and traffic violations causing death or bodily harm. The information is grouped by Type of offence (appearing as row headers), Female victims, Male victims and Total victims, calculated using number and percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Type of offence	Female victims		Male victims		Total victims^{Table 14.2 Note 1}
Type of offence	number	percent^{Table 14.2 Note 1}	number	percent^{Table 14.2 Note 1}	number	percent^{Table 14.2 Note 1}
Violent Criminal Code offences
Violations causing death and attempted murder	4	40	6	60	10	100
Homicide and other offences causing death^{Table 14.2 Note 2}	1	100	0	0	1	100
Attempted murder	3	33	6	67	9	100
Sexual offences	241	95	13	5	254	100
Sexual assault	149	96	6	4	155	100
Sexual assault (level 3)—aggravated	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sexual assault (level 2)—weapon or causing bodily harm	1	100	0	0	1	100
Sexual assault (level 1)	148	96	6	4	154	100
Sexual violations against children^{Table 14.2 Note 3}	92	93	7	7	99	100
Assaults	1,247	61	789	39	2,079	100
Assault (level 3)—aggravated	11	32	23	68	34	100
Assault (level 2)—weapon or causing bodily harm	198	52	182	48	383	100
Assault (level 1)	1,022	65	541	35	1,571	100
Other^{Table 14.2 Note 4}	16	27	43	73	91	100
Other violent offences	200	58	144	42	351	100
Robbery	3	50	3	50	6	100
Criminal harassment	23	79	6	21	29	100
Indecent/harassing communications	24	86	4	14	28	100
Uttering threats	121	48	130	52	258	100
Kidnapping, forcible confinement, abduction or hostage taking	22	100	0	0	22	100
Trafficking in persons and prostitution	3	100	0	0	3	100
Other^{Table 14.2 Note 5}	4	80	1	20	5	100
Criminal Code traffic violations causing death or bodily harm^{Table 14.2 Note 6}
Impaired driving and other traffic violations causing death^{Table 14.2 Note 6}	0	0	0	0	0	0
Impaired driving and other traffic violations causing bodily harm^{Table 14.2 Note 6}	9	69	4	31	13	100
Total victims	1,701	64	956	36	2,707	100
Note 1 Total victims includes victims where the sex was unknown. Percentage calculations exclude victims where the sex was unknown. Return to note 1 referrer Note 2 Excludes Criminal Code traffic violations causing death such as impaired driving. Return to note 2 referrer Note 3 Sexual violations against children are a set of Criminal Code offences that specifically concern offences involving child and youth victims. These include offences such as sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual exploitation, but exclude sexual assault and other sexual offences not specific to children. See the “Definitions” section for a full list of offences in this category. Return to note 3 referrer Note 4 Includes assaults against police and other peace officers, as well as other types of assaults such as criminal negligence causing bodily harm. Return to note 4 referrer Note 5 Includes violent firearm offences, extortion and other violent violations. Return to note 5 referrer Note 6 Includes dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop and other Criminal Code traffic violations. Return to note 6 referrer Note: Victims refer to those aged 89 years and younger. Victims aged 90 years and older are excluded from analyses due to possible instances of miscoding of unknown age within this age category. Percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding. For police-reported incidents that involve violations against the person, a victim record is collected for each victim involved in the incident. If an individual is a victim in multiple incidents in the same reference year, that individual will be counted as one victim for each separate incident. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey.

Table 14.3
Victims of police-reported violent crime and traffic violations causing death or bodily harm, by type of offence and sex and age group of victim, Nunavut, 2016
Table summary
This table displays the results of Victims of police-reported violent crime and traffic violations causing death or bodily harm. The information is grouped by Type of offence (appearing as row headers), Age group, Total victims, Child victims
under 12 years, Youth victims
12 to 17 years and Adult victims
18 years and older, calculated using Number, rate and percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Type of offence	Age group									Total victims^{Table 14.3 Note 1}
	Child victims under 12 years			Youth victims 12 to 17 years			Adult victims 18 years and older			Total victims^{Table 14.3 Note 1}
	number	rate	percent^{Table 14.3 Note 1}	number	rate	percent^{Table 14.3 Note 1}	number	rate	percent^{Table 14.3 Note 1}	number	rate	percent^{Table 14.3 Note 1}
Female victims
Violations causing death and attempted murder^{Table 14.3 Note 2}	1	21	25	0	0	0	3	26	75	4	22	100
Sexual offences	45	961	19	83	4,504	34	113	993	47	241	1,345	100
Sexual assault (level 1, 2 and 3)	11	235	7	25	1,356	17	113	993	76	149	832	100
Sexual violations against children^{Table 14.3 Note 3}	34	726	37	58	3,147	63	Note ...: not applicable	Note ...: not applicable	Note ...: not applicable	92	514	100
Assaults^{Table 14.3 Note 4}	34	726	3	108	5,860	9	1,105	9,710	89	1,247	6,961	100
Other violent offences^{Table 14.3 Note 5}	6	128	3	24	1,302	12	170	1,494	85	200	1,117	100
Criminal Code traffic violations causing death or bodily harm^{Table 14.3 Note 6}	3	64	33	1	54	11	5	44	56	9	50	100
Total female victims	89	1,900	5	216	11,720	13	1,396	12,267	82	1,701	9,496	100
Male victims
Violations causing death and attempted murder^{Table 14.3 Note 2}	3	63	50	0	0	0	3	24	50	6	31	100
Sexual offences	8	168	62	2	103	15	3	24	23	13	68	100
Sexual assault (level 1, 2 and 3)	3	63	50	0	0	0	3	24	50	6	31	100
Sexual violations against children^{Table 14.3 Note 3}	5	105	71	2	103	29	Note ...: not applicable	Note ...: not applicable	Note ...: not applicable	7	37	100
Assaults^{Table 14.3 Note 4}	48	1,007	6	86	4,415	11	655	5,264	83	789	4,116	100
Other violent offences^{Table 14.3 Note 5}	8	168	6	11	565	8	125	1,005	87	144	751	100
Criminal Code traffic violations causing death or bodily harm^{Table 14.3 Note 6}	2	42	50	1	51	25	1	8	25	4	21	100
Total male victims	69	1,447	7	100	5,133	10	787	6,324	82	956	4,987	100
Total victims^{Table 14.3 Note 7}	159	1,683	6	316	8,336	12	2,232	9,369	82	2,707	7,300	100
... not applicable Note 1 Total victims includes victims where the age was unknown. Percentage calculations exclude victims where the age was unknown. Return to note 1 referrer Note 2 Includes homicide, other offences causing death and attempted murder. Excludes Criminal Code traffic violations causing death such as impaired driving. Return to note 2 referrer Note 3 Sexual violations against children are a set of Criminal Code offences that specifically concern offences involving child and youth victims. These include offences such as sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual exploitation, but exclude sexual assault and other sexual offences not specific to children. See the “Definitions” section for a full list of offences in this category. Return to note 3 referrer Note 4 Includes assault (level 1, 2 and 3), assaults against police and other peace officers, and other types of assaults such as criminal negligence causing bodily harm. Return to note 4 referrer Note 5 Includes robbery; criminal harassment; incident/harassing communications; uttering threats; kidnapping, forcible confinement, abduction or hostage taking; trafficking in persons and prostitution; violent firearm offences; extortion; and other violent violations. Return to note 5 referrer Note 6 Includes impaired driving, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop and other Criminal Code traffic violations. Return to note 6 referrer Note 7 Includes victims where the sex was unknown. Return to note 7 referrer Note: Victims refer to those aged 89 years and younger. Victims aged 90 years and older are excluded from analyses due to possible instances of miscoding of unknown age within this age category. Rates are calculated on the basis of 100,000 population. Populations based upon July 1st estimates from Statistics Canada, Demography Division. Percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding. For police-reported incidents that involve violations against the person, a victim record is collected for each victim involved in the incident. If an individual is a victim in multiple incidents in the same reference year, that individual will be counted as one victim for each separate incident. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey.

Notes

Note

The remaining assaults include other assaults such as assault against a peace officer.

Return to note referrer

Note

Sexual violations against children are a set of Criminal Code violations that specifically concern offences involving child and youth victims. These include offences such as sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual exploitation, but exclude sexual assaults and other sexual offences not specific to children. See the “Definitions” section for a full list of offences in this category.

Return to note referrer

Note

Because of differences in the definition of victims and methods of counting, these victim counts should not be compared to victim counts for other provinces and territories. Moreover, these counts should also not be compared to the count of police-reported victims from the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey.

Return to note referrer

Note

Count includes all victims assisted through the Nunavut Victim Services Unit from July to December 2016. It does not include victims assisted only by police or through community-based programs. Family and household members of direct victims (secondary victims) are counted once per direct victim, not as individual victims.

Return to note referrer

Note

Information includes both direct and secondary victims.

Return to note referrer

Date modified:: 2018-05-30

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Fact sheet
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Victims of police-reported violent crime in Nunavut, 2016

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Victims of police-reported violent crime in Nunavut, 2016

Victim services in Nunavut

Detailed data tables

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