Table 7
Persons accused of homicide of an Indigenous victim, by gender-related criterion and accused characteristic, Canada, 2011 to 2021


Table 7
Persons accused of homicide of an Indigenous victim, by gender-related criterion and accused characteristic, Canada, 2011 to 2021
Table summary
This table displays the results of Persons accused of homicide of an Indigenous victim. The information is grouped by Accused characteristic (appearing as row headers), Gender-related homicides of Indigenous women and girls and Non-gender-related homicides of Indigenous people, calculated using number and percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Accused characteristic Gender-related homicides of Indigenous women and girlsTable 7 Note 1 Non-gender-related homicides of Indigenous people
number percent number percent
Accused gender
Male 226 100 807 80
Female Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 205 20
Total 226 100 1,012 100
Criminal historyTable 7 Note 2
No criminal record 50 22 264 26
Violent offencesTable 7 Note 3 137 61 570 57
Property offencesTable 7 Note 4 38 17 223 22
Other offencesTable 7 Note 5 61 27 284 28
Unknown 1 Note ...: not applicable 7 Note ...: not applicable
Total 226 100 1,012 100
Mental or developmental disorder
No mental or developmental disorder 163 81 781 88
Suspected or known mental or developmental disorderTable 7 Note 6 39 19 108 12
Unknown 24 Note ...: not applicable 123 Note ...: not applicable
Total 226 100 1,012 100
Clearance status
Cleared by charge 199 88 986 97
Cleared otherwise 27 12 26 3
Total 226 100 1,012 100
Charge laid or recommendedTable 7 Note 7
First degree murder 39 20 150 15
Second degree murder 132 66 631 64
Manslaughter 28 14 205 21
Infanticide 0 0 0 0
Unknown 0 Note ...: not applicable 0 Note ...: not applicable
Total 199 100 986 100
Accused suicide
No suicide 200 88 1,001 99
Died by suicide 26 12 11 1
Total 226 100 1,012 100
... not applicable
0 true zero or a value rounded to zero
Note 1

Due to the analysis focusing on known accused only, this category includes data for persons accused of a homicide involving at least one Indigenous female victim whose homicide could be classified as gender-related. Gender-related homicides of Indigenous women and girls are solved homicides committed by a male accused who was an intimate partner or family member of the victim, inflicted sexual violence on the victim as part of the killing or killed a victim who was identified as a sex worker. Non-gender-related homicides are all those that do not contain the above qualifiers but include an Indigenous victim.

Return to note 1 referrer

Note 2

The criminal history categories are not mutually exclusive. An accused person can have a criminal history pertaining to violent, property and other offences.

Return to note 2 referrer

Note 3

Includes violent offences such as homicide, sexual assault and other sexual violations, assault, kidnapping, trafficking of persons, hostage taking, robbery, commodification of sexual activities, harassment, uttering threats and other violence offences not otherwise listed.

Return to note 3 referrer

Note 4

Includes non-violent offences such as arson, break and enter, theft, fraud, mischief and other crimes against property not otherwise listed.

Return to note 4 referrer

Note 5

Includes other Criminal Code offences (e.g., gaming/betting, offensive weapons), other Criminal Code offences not otherwise specified. Also includes offences under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) or Cannabis Act as well as other federal or provincial statute offences.

Return to note 5 referrer

Note 6

Based on the investigating officer's assessment of the mental health status of the accused at the time of the incident and is not a medical diagnosis. Examples of mental or developmental disorders could include schizophrenia, depression, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, neurodevelopmental disorders, dementia of Alzheimer's, psychotic and neurotic illnesses or antisocial personality behaviours which may have contributed to some degree to the homicide incident.

Return to note 6 referrer

Note 7

Analysis focuses on accused persons who were cleared by the laying or recommendation of charges only and represents the most serious charge laid or recommended.

Return to note 7 referrer

Note: Analysis focuses on known accused only. There may be a small number of homicides included in a given year's total that occurred in previous years. Homicides are counted according to the year in which they are reported to Statistics Canada. "Indigenous identity" includes those identified by police as First Nations persons (either status or non-status), Métis, Inuit or an Indigenous identity where the Indigenous group was not known to police. Excludes victims where Indigenous identity or gender was coded as unknown. Excludes accused where gender was coded as unknown. The year 2019 marked the first cycle of collection of the Homicide Survey data for which information on gender identity was reported for victims and persons accused of homicide. Gender refers to the gender a person publicly expresses in their daily life, including at work, while shopping or accessing other services, in their housing environment or in the broader community. Prior to 2019, Homicide Survey data was presented by the sex of the victims and accused persons. Sex and gender refer to two different concepts. Caution should be exercised when comparing counts for sex with those for gender. Given that small counts of victims and accused persons reported or were identified as being non-binary, the aggregate Homicide Survey data available to the public has been recoded to distribute these counts to either "men" or "women" in order to ensure the protection of confidentiality and privacy. Victims and accused persons who reported or were identified as being non-binary have been distributed to either men or women categories based on the regional distribution of victims’ or accused persons’ gender. Percent calculations exclude accused whose criminal history and mental health status was unknown. Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Homicide Survey.
Date modified: