Table 1
Characteristics of police-reported sexual assault, and clearance and court outcomes, Canada, 2010 to 2019

Table 1
Characteristics of police-reported sexual assault, and clearance and court outcomes, Canada, 2010 to 2019 Table summary
This table displays the results of Characteristics of police-reported sexual assault, and clearance and court outcomes, Canada, 2010 to 2019. The information is grouped by Characteristic (appearing as row headers), Went to court2, Charges laid or recommended, 2015 to 20191, 2010 to 20141, Did not go to court2 and Incidents, calculated using number and percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Characteristic 2010 to 2014 Table 1 Note 1 2015 to 2019 Table 1 Note 1
Incidents Charges laid or recommended Went to court Table 1 Note 2 Did not go to court Table 1 Note 2 Incidents Charges laid or recommended Went to court Table 1 Note 2 Did not go to court Table 1 Note 2
number number percent percent number number percent percent
Note 1

The time period represents the year in which the incident was reported to police, and not necessarily the time period during which the related charges were processed in court.

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Note 2

"Went to court" means that the incident was successfully linked to a completed court case between 2009/2010 and 2021/2022. The court case to which the incident was linked did not necessarily retain a specific charge for sexual assault, once heard in court. See Methodology and data sources for greater detail. The term "did not go to court" is the residual of all incidents where charges were laid or recommended, after subtracting those that were linked to a completed court case.

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Note 3

There are many differences between provinces and territories, in terms of demographics, resources, policies, data quality, and data availability. These differences can have a notable impact on charging and retention. For that reason, direct comparisons between provinces are not recommended.

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Note 4

An urban area is defined as a census metropolitan area (CMA) or a census agglomeration (CA). A CMA consists of one or more neighbouring municipalities situated around a major urban core. A CMA must have a total population of at least 100,000, of which 50,000 or more live in the urban core. To be included in the CMA, adjacent municipalities must have a high degree of integration with the central urban area, as measured by commuting flows derived from census data. A CA must have a core population of at least 10,000. Rural areas are all areas outside of CMAs and CAs.

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Note 5

The Provincial South includes Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and the southern regions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador. The Provincial North and Territories includes the northern regions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Territories.

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Note 6

Due to data quality concerns, excludes the province of Quebec unless the most serious weapon present was a firearm, and data from the Québec City Police Service is excluded regardless of most serious weapon present.

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Note 7

Based on the end date of an incident and the date it was reported to police.

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Note 8

Includes single homes, private and commercial dwelling units, and group housing (e.g., nursing homes, retirement homes, community group homes).

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Note 9

Includes private property structures other than dwellings, commercial locations, schools, hospitals, public transit, streets or other open areas, and other public places.

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Note 10

Victims and accused persons older than 110 years were coded as unknown due to possible instances of miscoding of unknown age within this age category, as were certain victims whose age was reported as 80 and older, but were identified as possible instances of miscoding.

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Note 11

Includes current and former legally married spouses, common-law partners and dating partners (i.e., boyfriends, girlfriends), and other intimate partners (e.g., one-night stands). Victims of spousal violence include those aged 15 and older, and victims of dating violence include those aged 12 and older.

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Note 12

Includes biological, step, adoptive and foster parents.

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Note 13

Includes all other family members related by blood, marriage (including common-law) or adoption (e.g., siblings, children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and in-laws).

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Note 14

Includes neighbours, roommates, authority figures, reverse authority figures (e.g., student-to-teacher, patient-to-doctor), business relationships and criminal relationships (i.e., relationships based on illegal activities).

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Note 15

Includes injuries that required no professional medical treatment or only some first aid (e.g., bandage, ice).

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Note 16

Includes injuries that required professional medical attention at the scene or transportation to a medical facility.

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Note 17

Percentages for charges laid or recommended are not directly comparable with those for incidents or victims, as information on accused persons is only available for incidents that are solved in some way.

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Note 18

Excludes a small number of accused persons identified as being under the age of 12. Persons under 12 cannot be held criminally responsible in Canada.

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Note: The sum of the categories may not add up to the total as unknown values are not always displayed. As there can be multiple victims in an incident, the sum of victims does not equal the sum of incidents. Similarly, as not all incidents result in the identification of an accused person, and there can be multiple accused persons in the same incident, the sum of accused persons can also differ. For victim data, offences reflect the most serious violation against the victim. For incident and accused data, offences reflect the most serious violation in the incident. Sexual assault includes level 1, 2 and 3 sexual assault.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey and Integrated Criminal Courts Survey (linked file).
Total incidents 96,766 40,627 42 67 33 115,859 41,669 36 61 39
Incident characteristics  
Violation  
Aggravated sexual assault (level 3) 604 414 69 71 29 613 383 62 67 33
Sexual assault with a weapon or causing bodily harm (level 2) 1,679 1,015 60 76 24 2,029 1,197 59 71 29
Sexual assault (level 1) 94,483 39,198 41 67 33 113,217 40,089 35 60 40
Province or territory Table 1 Note 3  
Newfoundland and Labrador 1,561 607 39 72 28 1,647 498 30 66 34
Prince Edward Island 324 135 42 54 46 417 142 34 59 41
Nova Scotia 3,067 1,062 35 79 21 3,613 1,065 29 75 25
New Brunswick 2,288 953 42 49 51 2,053 821 40 42 58
Quebec 17,172 5,557 32 58 42 21,647 7,745 36 42 58
Ontario 34,112 15,502 45 66 34 42,499 15,274 36 64 36
Manitoba 6,447 2,911 45 77 23 6,922 2,358 34 73 27
Saskatchewan 5,100 2,200 43 74 26 5,822 2,057 35 69 31
Alberta 13,001 5,178 40 77 23 15,317 4,995 33 75 25
British Columbia 11,639 5,325 46 59 41 13,808 5,641 41 54 46
Yukon 344 167 49 93 7 415 177 43 90 10
Northwest Territories 827 444 54 66 34 880 413 47 58 42
Nunavut 884 586 66 70 30 819 483 59 77 23
Location Table 1 Note 4  
Urban 74,981 28,871 39 66 34 93,110 30,622 33 60 40
Rural 21,785 11,756 54 68 32 22,749 11,047 49 63 37
Geography Table 1 Note 5  
Provincial South 83,027 33,046 40 66 34 100,846 34,434 34 60 40
Provincial North and Territories 13,739 7,581 55 69 31 15,013 7,235 48 65 35
Weapon present Table 1 Note 6  
Yes 2,956 1,621 55 77 23 3,094 1,765 57 73 27
No (includes threats and physical force) 69,793 31,807 46 68 32 83,674 30,923 37 65 35
Unknown 6,910 1,666 24 68 32 7,542 1,279 17 62 38
Delay in reporting to police Table 1 Note 7  
Reported same or next day 56,798 24,089 42 69 31 66,733 24,614 37 64 36
Reported same day as incident 49,731 21,265 43 68 32 58,237 21,486 37 64 36
Reported next day after incident 7,067 2,824 40 73 27 8,496 3,128 37 64 36
Reported 2 to 7 days after incident 10,313 4,127 40 72 28 12,878 4,521 35 62 38
Reported 8 to 30 days after incident 6,601 2,674 41 70 30 8,523 2,970 35 59 41
Reported 31 to 365 days after incident 9,428 4,118 44 64 36 12,841 4,755 37 55 45
Reported more than one year after incident 12,839 5,201 41 56 44 14,212 4,533 32 47 53
Unknown 787 418 53 71 29 672 276 41 61 39
Location  
Residential Table 1 Note 8 61,580 29,440 48 66 34 72,231 29,259 41 60 40
Non-residential Table 1 Note 9 30,878 10,295 33 69 31 38,732 11,792 30 64 36
Victim characteristics  
Gender  
Women and girls 92,169 40,161 44 67 32 110,517 41,946 38 61 38
Men and boys 13,633 5,381 39 66 34 13,413 3,865 29 60 39
Age group (years)  
11 and younger 18,688 8,126 43 65 34 13,581 3,825 28 58 42
12 to 17 32,658 15,175 46 66 33 33,898 11,594 34 59 40
18 to 24 22,189 8,818 40 67 33 29,503 11,606 39 61 39
25 to 44 23,674 10,231 43 69 30 34,115 14,318 42 64 36
45 to 64 7,161 2,814 39 68 32 10,085 3,903 39 62 38
65 and older Table 1 Note 10 1,289 321 25 72 27 2,520 556 22 63 37
Accused–victim relationship  
Intimate partner Table 1 Note 11 13,281 7,668 58 71 29 21,151 11,375 54 63 37
Parent Table 1 Note 12 8,619 4,159 48 61 39 6,741 2,153 32 50 50
Other family member Table 1 Note 13 15,997 7,780 49 63 36 13,374 4,969 37 59 40
Friend or casual acquaintance 37,207 15,063 40 67 32 45,194 15,351 34 59 40
Other person known to the victim Table 1 Note 14 10,968 4,897 45 65 34 13,886 5,252 38 59 41
Stranger 19,793 6,003 30 73 27 23,694 6,729 28 69 31
Level of injury  
No injury 70,218 29,687 42 67 33 82,717 28,875 35 61 39
Minor injury Table 1 Note 15 20,335 10,483 52 70 29 24,718 12,185 49 64 35
Major injury Table 1 Note 16 290 218 75 71 29 338 220 65 75 25
Unknown 15,164 5,225 34 62 38 16,382 4,585 28 53 46
Accused person characteristics Table 1 Note 17  
Gender  
Women and girls 1,707 912 53 61 39 1,794 940 52 60 40
Men and boys 57,773 40,909 71 67 33 59,281 41,793 70 61 39
Age group (years) Table 1 Note 18  
12 to 17 10,249 5,829 57 70 30 10,587 5,807 55 64 36
18 to 24 10,648 7,908 74 67 33 11,108 8,206 74 58 42
25 to 44 22,602 17,482 77 66 34 22,909 18,165 79 61 39
45 to 54 12,067 8,903 74 66 34 11,854 8,755 74 60 40
65 and older Table 1 Note 10 3,108 1,815 58 63 37 3,670 1,888 51 60 40
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