Table 8
Characteristics of victims associated with completed court cases involving a homicide charge, by Indigenous identity, final decision in the case, and selected victim characteristics, Canada, 2009/10 to 2020/21


Table 8
Characteristics of victims associated with completed court cases involving a homicide charge, by Indigenous identity, final decision in the case, and selected victim characteristics, Canada, 2009/10 to 2020/21
Table summary
This table displays the results of Characteristics of victims associated with completed court cases involving a homicide charge. The information is grouped by Characteristics (appearing as row headers), Indigenous women and girls, Non-Indigenous women and girls, Total, Guilty and Not guilty, calculated using number of victims and percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
CharacteristicsTable 8 Note 4 Table 8 Note 5 Indigenous women and girlsTable 8 Note 1 Non-Indigenous women and girlsTable 8 Note 2
Total Guilty Not guiltyTable 8 Note 3 Total Guilty Not guiltyTable 8 Note 3
number of victims percentTable 8 Note 6 percent number of victims percentTable 8 Note 6 percent
Age group of victim
0 to 17 years 27 16 67 33 60 11 62 38
18 to 24 years 37 22 65 35 64 12 63 38
25 to 34 years 44 26 68 32 95 18 54 46
35 to 44 years 37 22 68 32 84 16 65 35
45 years and older 24 14 54 46 223 42 52 48
Gender of victimTable 8 Note 7
Man 14 8 79 21 54 10 50 50
Woman 155 92 64 36 472 90 57 43
Marital status
Married 11 7 82 18 122 24 42 58
Living common-law 42 26 81 19 85 17 80 20
Separated, widowed, divorced 34 21 59 41 136 26 58 42
Single, never married 76 47 61 39 172 33 53 47
Indigenous identityTable 8 Note 8
Not an Indigenous person 6 4 83 17 520 100 57 43
First Nations person (Status or non-Status) 103 62 62 38 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable
Métis 8 5 38 63 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable
Inuit 11 7 82 18 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable
Indigenous person, but Indigenous group unknown 39 23 69 31 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable
Victim missing at time of deathTable 8 Note 9
Yes 18 20 56 44 37 15 59 41
No 73 80 62 38 215 85 53 47
Victim had previous convictions for criminal activity
Yes 72 43 51 49 81 15 63 37
No 95 57 75 25 444 85 56 44
Primary method used to cause death
Shooting 29 17 83 17 104 20 60 40
Stabbing 55 33 67 33 181 35 57 43
Beating or blows 57 34 61 39 98 19 50 50
Strangulation, suffocation, drowning 15 9 60 40 77 15 65 35
Other method used to cause death 13 8 38 62 52 10 42 58
Accused-victim relationship
Spouse 34 20 82 18 134 26 63 37
Family member (non-spouse) 41 24 59 41 123 24 54 46
Intimate partner (non-spouse) 21 13 57 43 56 11 70 30
Acquaintance 58 35 60 40 144 28 52 48
Stranger 14 8 79 21 63 12 46 54
Total 169 100 65 35 526 100 57 43
... not applicable
Note 1

Indigenous victims are those identified by police as First Nations (Status or non-Status), Métis, Inuit, or an Indigenous identity where the Indigenous group was not known to police.

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Note 2

Non-Indigenous victims includes instances where police have confirmed that a victim is not identified as an Indigenous person.

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Note 3

Includes acquittals, stays, withdrawals, dismissals, discharges, and all other final decisions other than findings of guilt.

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Note 4

Victim characteristics are based on police-reported data and may not necessarily reflect the information that was presented to the court.

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Note 5

As charges against the same accused person referring to multiple victims may be processed at the same time in the same court case, the total number of victims in this table exceeds the total number of cases published elsewhere in this analysis.

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Note 6

The sum of the categories and the calculation of percentages exclude missing or not stated values. For that reason, the sum of the categories may not equal the sum of the total.

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Note 7

All homicide incidents where an Indigenous woman or girl was killed are classified as homicides of Indigenous women and girls in this analysis. Homicides of men and boys may have occurred in the same incident as homicides of women and girls, or may have involved the same accused person and been processed at the same time in court. For that reason, it is possible for some men and boys to be included as victims in homicides where women and girls were killed.

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Note 8

All homicide incidents where an Indigenous woman or girl was killed are classified as homicides of Indigenous women and girls in this analysis. Homicides of non-Indigenous women and girls may have occurred in the same incident as homicides of Indigenous women and girls, or may have involved the same accused person and been processed at the same time in court. For that reason, it is possible for some non-Indigenous women and girls to be included as victims in homicides where Indigenous women and girls were killed.

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Note 9

Collection of this information on the Homicide Survey began in 2015 and is therefore missing for 41% of Indigenous women and girls who were homicide victims and 46% of non-Indigenous women and girls who were victims. Percent calculations exclude these missing values.

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Note: Indigenous identity is reported by the police and is determined through information found with the victim, such as Status cards, or through information supplied by the victims' families, community members, or other sources (i.e., such as band records, or forensic evidence such as genetic testing). Represents all completed cases where incidents successfully linked to at least one charge completed in adult criminal or youth courts in Canada between 2009/10 and 2020/21. The decision is determined at the accused level, refers to the most serious decision in the case, and, in instances where there were multiple victims, is applied to all victims in the case and not necessarily one specific charge or victim. Incidents may not have linked to courts data for multiple reasons, including survey coverage and time required to complete a case. See "Data sources and methodology" for more details about the linkage and methodology.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Homicide Survey and Integrated Criminal Court Survey (linked file).
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