Murder rate for Alberta aboriginal women ‘shocking’
A new Statistics Canada study shows Alberta’s homicide rate for aboriginal women was more than seven times that of non-aboriginal women.
Aboriginal women in Alberta also face higher homicide rates than in any other province, the sweeping report on women and the justice system found, a finding that one Edmonton advocate calls “startling.”
Between 2001 and 2015, there were 7.17 aboriginal female homicides per 100,000 people in Alberta, compared to .97 homicides among non-aboriginal women.
Canada’s overall homicide rate was 4.82 per 100,000 for aboriginal women and .82 per 100,000 for non-aboriginal woman.
The report did not explore why some provinces have higher rates, but noted aboriginal women were over-represented among homicide victims in most parts of Canada. The over-representation was “most notable” in the territories and Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
According to the report, the number of aboriginal female victims of homicide has grown in recent decades as the number of non-aboriginal female victims has declined.
“As a result, aboriginal females account for an increasing proportion of female homicide victims, rising from one-tenth (nine per cent) of all female homicide victims in 1980 to one-quarter (24 per cent) in 2015,” the report states.
In 2015, women accounted for 29 per cent of all homicide victims.
Co-author Tina Hotton Mahony said the StatsCan report makes no conclusions as to why aboriginal women are over-represented.
However, she said past studies have highlighted socio-economic factors, including child abuse, substance use and homelessness that contribute to violence.
Muriel Stanley Venne, president of Edmonton’s Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women, said the report is “shocking.”
She suspected the resource economy plays a role in Western Canada’s higher homicide rates.
Rates of domestic violence, for example, have risen during the province’s recent economic downturn.