Highlights

• According to the 2004 General Social Survey (GSS), visible minorities experienced rates of violent victimization, including sexual assault, robbery and physical assault that were similar to non-visible minorities (98 incidents compared with 107 incidents per 1,000 population).

• While victimization rates were similar for visible minorities and non-visible minorities between the ages of 15 and 24, visible minorities in the older age groups (25-to-34 years and 35 years and over) experienced lower victimization rates than their non-visible minority counterparts. 

• Canadian-born visible minorities experienced rates of violent victimization that were three times higher than visible minority immigrants and two times higher than non-visible minorities. However, certain factors that are associated with a higher risk of victimization are more common among Canadian-born visible minorities. For example, a higher proportion of Canadian-born visible minorities are between the ages of 15 and 24, unmarried and unemployed compared to their counterparts.

• About 47% of visible minority females and 39% of males reported that they would use public transportation alone after dark more often if they felt safer, compared to 29% and 22% of non-visible minorities.

• Visible minorities were less likely than non-visible minorities to rate the police at doing a good job with tasks that were related to police accessibility and attitudes such as: being approachable and easy to talk to, supplying the public with information on ways to reduce crime and treating people fairly.  

• Visible minorities were more likely than non-visible minorities to feel that loitering, people sleeping on the streets, harassment and attacks motivated by racial intolerance and prostitution posed a problem in their neighbourhoods.

• The proportion of visible minorities who felt they had experienced discrimination was twice that of non-visible minorities. Overall, 81% of visible minorities who felt that they had experienced discrimination believed that it was because of their race or ethnic origin.