Spousal violence

The 1999 General Social Survey was the first attempt by Statistics Canada to measure spousal violence in a comprehensive way on a traditional victimization survey. Both women and men were asked a module of 10 questions concerning violence by their current or previous spouses and common-law partners. The nature of the violence under study ranged in severity from threats to sexual assault, and it concerned acts that happened in the 12-month and 5-year periods preceding the survey interview.