(OTTAWA) A compilation of surveys conducted from 2018 to 2020 reveals that in Canada, First Nations, Métis and Inuit people are overrepresented among victims of violence.
Posted at 9:05 a.m.
Statistics Canada indicates Tuesday that overall, 41% of these Aboriginal people have suffered sexual or physical assault from an adult before the age of 15 compared to 25% in the rest of the population. In addition, 62% of Aboriginals were victims of such assaults after reaching the age of 15, compared to 42% among non-Aboriginals.
On the other hand, 11% of Aboriginal people reported having ever been under the responsibility of child protection services, compared to 1.3% of non-Aboriginal people.
Statistics Canada also observed that Indigenous people were overrepresented among victims of violent crime in the 12 months preceding the surveys, as well as for the homicide rate from 2015 to 2020, which was six times higher. when the victims were Aboriginal than when they were non-Aboriginal.
The federal agency reports that across provinces across Canada, Indigenous people who had a spouse or had had one in the five years prior to a 2019 survey were about twice as likely as non-Indigenous people to have experienced child abuse. domestic violence. Specifically, 7.5% of Indigenous women reported having experienced spousal violence, but Statistics Canada found that this proportion had dropped significantly, being about half of that of 15% in 2009.
Previous studies suggest a link between Indigenous violence and past and current colonization policies, according to Statistics Canada, including the residential school system, marginalization and institutionalized racism. The federal agency believes these policies have contributed to the breakdown of community and family structures, as well as intergenerational trauma, factors linked to violent victimization among Indigenous people.