Police-reported crime in Canada's Provincial North and Territories, 2013: highlights

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• In 2013, police-reported crime in the Provincial North and Territories was notably higher than in the South. The police-reported crime rate was twice as high in the Provincial North, and seven times higher in the Territories than in the South.
• Crime varied substantially across the northern regions of the provinces and territories. Northern Saskatchewan had the highest police-reported crime rate and Crime Severity Index (CSI) in the North. Nunavut, northern Manitoba and the Northwest Territories also had notably high levels of police-reported crime, followed by Yukon and northern Newfoundland and Labrador. Crime rates and CSIs in northern Ontario and Quebec were closer to the Canada average.
• Mischief and disturbing the peace were the most frequent offences in the Provincial North and Territories. They accounted for over one-third of all police-reported crime in the Provincial North and 60% of crime in the Territories.
• High rates of mischief and disturbing the peace in the Provincial North and Territories explain much of the difference in overall crime between north and south.
• Rates of almost all types of police-reported violent crime were notably higher in the Provincial North and the Territories relative to the South, with the exception of robbery and extortion.
• The most frequent violent offence reported by police in the Provincial North and the Territories was common assault (Assault level 1), representing 53% of all violent crime in the Territories and 47% in the Provincial North in 2013 (compared to 40% of violent incidents in the South).
• With 65 homicides in the Provincial North and six in the Territories in 2013, homicide rates in the Provincial North and Territories were particularly high compared to the South. Homicides in the Provincial North and Territories were more likely to be the result of an argument or quarrel, or to involve alcohol and/or drugs than in the South.
• Both victims and those accused of police-reported violent crimes in the Provincial North and Territories tended to be older and were more likely to be female than in the South.