Table 9
Victims of spousal violence in the past five years, by gender of victim and actions taken, Canada, 2019


Table 9
Victims of spousal violence in the past five years, by gender of victim and actions taken, Canada, 2019
Table summary
This table displays the results of Victims of spousal violence in the past year and past five years. The information is grouped by Actions taken (appearing as row headers), Women, Men, Total, percent and 95% confidence interval, calculated using from and to units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Actions taken WomenTable 9 Note † Men TotalTable 9 Note 1
percent 95% confidence interval percent 95% confidence interval percent 95% confidence interval
from to from to from to
Reported to police
Yes 22.4 16.5 29.7 14.1 8.0 23.8 19.0 14.7 24.3
Who reported
Victim reported 71.2Note E: Use with caution 54.5 83.6 Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published 64.1Note E: Use with caution 49.1 76.8
Someone else reported 28.8Note E: Use with caution 16.4 45.5 Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published 35.9Note E: Use with caution 23.2 50.9
Satisfaction with police responseTable 9 Note 2
Satisfied 76.4Note E: Use with caution 62.4 86.3 Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published 73.3Note E: Use with caution 59.1 83.9
Not satisfied 23.6Note E: Use with caution 13.7 37.5 Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published 26.6Note E: Use with caution 16.0 40.8
No 76.6 69.2 82.7 85.4 75.8 91.6 80.2 74.8 84.7
Reasons for not reporting to policeTable 9 Note 3   
The incident was a private or personal matter and handled informally 65.0 53.0 75.4 71.1 61.1 79.4 67.8 59.7 75.0
The crime was minor and not worth taking the time to report 59.2 48.1 69.5 62.8 52.1 72.5 61.1 53.2 68.4
No one was harmed 48.7 38.3 59.2 64.0Note * 53.3 73.5 55.5 47.7 63.0
No harm was intended 37.5 27.1 49.1 55.9Note * 45.3 66.0 44.8 37.3 52.6
Did not want spouse in trouble with the law 46.3 35.4 57.6 38.2 29.1 48.2 43.4 35.7 51.5
Police would not have considered the incident important enough 37.9 28.0 48.8 39.0 29.9 48.9 38.8 31.7 46.4
Did not want others to find out about the victimization 37.2 27.1 48.6 28.5 20.3 38.4 33.3 26.3 41.1
Did not want the hassle of dealing with the police 30.4 22.0 40.3 34.7 25.7 44.9 32.7 26.1 40.1
Feared or did not want the hassle of dealing with the court process 28.7 20.5 38.6 20.2 13.4 29.2 24.9 19.1 31.8
There was a lack of evidence 24.0 16.8 33.2 23.0 15.6 32.7 23.4 18.1 29.8
Police would not have been efficient or effective 23.9 16.3 33.5 19.6 12.7 29.1 22.7 17.2 29.4
Reporting would bring shame and dishonour to the family 22.2 15.1 31.3 19.5 12.6 29.1 20.9 15.8 27.2
Didn't think spouse would be convicted or adequately punished 18.0 11.8 26.3 16.6 10.9 24.5 17.3 12.8 22.9
Fear of revenge by spouse 17.8 11.3 26.7 12.9 7.1 22.2 15.6 11.0 21.7
Felt they would not be believed 13.5 7.9 22.0 18.1 11.4 27.5 15.3 10.8 21.2
The police would be biased 9.5 5.2 16.7 19.3 12.5 28.7 14.3 10.0 20.0
Afraid child protection would take childTable 9 Note 4 14.1Note E: Use with caution 6.9 26.7 11.9Note E: Use with caution 5.3 24.6 13.2 7.8 21.6
Received unsatisfactory service in the past 10.3 5.8 17.7 11.5 6.3 20.1 11.5 7.7 16.9
Dealing with the police could have caused victim trouble with the law 8.2 3.0 20.4 5.0 2.4 10.0 6.8 3.3 13.3
It was reported to another official Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published 3.3 1.4 7.5
For some other reason 12.4 6.2 23.3 Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published 8.5 4.7 15.1
Used a formal support service
Yes 44.3 35.5 53.4 25.6Note * 17.4 35.9 36.7 30.6 43.2
Type of formal support serviceTable 9 Note 5
Counsellor, psychologist, social worker 42.0 33.4 51.2 22.9Note * 15.1 33.2 34.3 28.3 40.9
Crisis centre, crisis line 14.9 9.8 22.1 4.6Note * 1.8 11.5 10.8 7.4 15.5
Victim services, witness assistance program 10.6 6.5 16.7 Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published 7.4 4.8 11.2
Victim support group, centre 9.8 5.9 16.0 Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published 6.1 3.7 9.9
Shelter or transition house 8.4 4.9 14.0 Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published 5.6 3.4 9.3
Community, family, cultural centre 5.2 2.8 9.4 Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published 4.6 2.7 7.7
Sexual assault centre 1.7 0.5 5.1 Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published Note F: too unreliable to be published 1.6 0.6 4.3
Other support group 9.2 5.4 15.2 6.4 2.7 14.4 8.0 5.3 12.1
No 55.5 46.4 64.3 73.1 62.7 81.4 62.7 56.1 68.8
Sought informal support
Yes 72.1 62.0 80.4 54.9Note * 44.8 64.6 65.6 58.6 71.9
Type of informal supportTable 9 Note 6
Family member 54.2 44.8 63.3 34.1Note * 25.2 44.3 46.6 40.1 53.3
Friend or neighbour 49.0 39.9 58.3 36.7 27.1 47.5 44.6 37.8 51.5
Co-worker 18.0 11.6 26.9 20.4 12.9 30.6 18.8 13.8 25.1
Doctor or nurse 23.6 16.5 32.6 6.1Note * 2.6 13.6 16.6 11.9 22.8
Lawyer 16.5 11.1 23.8 12.3 7.0 21.0 14.8 10.7 20.0
Priest, rabbi, imam or another spiritual advisor 6.1 3.8 9.7 6.5 2.5 15.4 6.2 4.0 9.7
No 27.7 19.4 37.9 43.7Note * 34.2 53.6 33.8 27.5 40.6
E use with caution
F too unreliable to be published
Note *

significantly different from reference category (p < 0.05)

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Note †

reference category

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Note 1

In addition to women and men, includes a small number of respondents who identified as gender diverse or did not state their gender.

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Note 2

Includes those who personally reported to police.

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Note 3

Includes those who did not report to police. Respondents could select as many reasons that applied in their situation.

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Note 4

Includes those who had a child in the household.

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Note 5

Respondents could select as many formal supports that applied in their situation.

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Note 6

Respondents could select as many informal supports that applied in their situation.

Return to note 6 referrer

Note: Spousal violence includes physical and sexual violence. Includes those who are legally married or living common law, and those who are separated or divorced from a legal marriage or common-law union and have had contact with their former partner in the past five years. Spousal relationships include same-gender relationships. Missing responses are included in percent calculations. Confidence intervals should be interpreted as follows: if the survey were repeated many times, then 95% of the time (or 19 times out of 20), the confidence interval would cover the true population value.
Source: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey on Canadians' Safety (Victimization).
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