Aboriginal women are over-represented among murder victims in Canada and, alarmingly, their presence in those statistics is only growing, according to a report from the RCMP.
The report, called a “national operational overview on missing and murdered aboriginal women,” identified 1,181 missing and murdered aboriginal women between 1980 and 2012. The new figure outpaces previous numbers based on research conducted by aboriginal women’s organizations. Aboriginal women represent approximately 4.3 per cent of Canada’s female population, but on average 16 per cent of female homicide victims and 11.3 per cent of missing women over the period studied.
However, as the rate of female homicide victims has steadily decreased over the last 30 years, the rate for aboriginal women has remained steady. In 2012, aboriginal women represented 23 per cent of female homicide victims, compared to 8 per cent in 1984.
Of the 1,181 cases, 225 remain unsolved, including 105 missing persons cases and 120 homicides. The RCMP noted solve rates were roughly the same for aboriginal and non-aboriginal women at just under 90 per cent.
“We knew intuitively that the numbers were higher…but I would say that personally I was surprised by the overall number,” said Dep. Comm. Janice Armstrong at a press conference in Winnipeg Friday morning.
In all cases of female murder victims, the perpetrator is overwhelmingly likely to be a male who knows the victim, but there were some differences identified between aboriginal and non-aboriginal cases. Aboriginal women were more likely to be killed by an acquaintance than a spouse and were more likely to have a history of violence with the offender.
There were also different vulnerabilities identified, which the RCMP said is not victim-blaming, but the reality of social and economic circumstances. Aboriginal female murder victims were more likely than non-aboriginal women to be unemployed, have a history of illegal activities and to have consumed an intoxicant before their murder. They were also younger, on average.
A small number of both aboriginal and non-aboriginal victims were found to have worked in the sex trade and the solve rate for these cases is lower, at 60 per cent for aboriginal victims.
The RCMP said they have shared their findings with The National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains and that the new data will aid them in future crime reduction strategies.
Other findings from the report:
- Women represented 32 per cent of all murder victims in the study and of those 6,551 victims, 16 per cent were aboriginal.
- Aboriginal women are three times more likely to be a victim of violence than non-aboriginal women.
- Aboriginal women are most likely to be killed by a physical beating (32 per cent) followed by stabbing (31 per cent), shooting (16 per cent) or strangulation, suffocation or drowning (13 per cent).
- Offenders in these murder cases were most likely to be acquaintances (30 per cent) followed by spouses (29 per cent), family members (23 percent), other intimate relationships (10 per cent) or strangers (8 per cent).
- The aboriginal female homicide rate per 100,000 population dropped from 7.60 to 4.45 between 1996 and 2011.
- The proportion of aboriginal female homicide victims varied across the country over the 32-year study period. In Saskatchewan, aboriginal women were 55 per cent of all female murder victims, compared to 6 per cent in Ontario.
You can read the whole report below or by clicking here.
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