APTN National News
Indigenous people in Canada are still much more likely to experience sexual and physical assault compared with their non-Indigenous counterparts, according to a new report from Statistics Canada.
According to survey data from 2014 that was released today, Indigenous people aged 15 and older were nearly three times more likely to be sexually assaulted, and at nearly double the risk of being physically assaulted.
The report entitled “Victimization of Aboriginal People in Canada” compiled statistics on eight specific types of crime: sexual assault, robbery, physical assault, theft of personal, motor vehicle or household property, breaking and entering and vandalism.
Those numbers appear to have decreased somewhat in five years.
The report found that 28 per cent of Indigenous respondents — about 275,000 people — reported being victims of various crimes in 2014, down from 38 per cent in 2009.
Statcan acknowledged that the disproportionate number of Indigenous people who have experienced crimes is a complex issue.
But it said a number of factors not taken into account by the survey probably come into play, most pressingly the continued impacts of colonization.
— with files from The Canadian Press
