OTTAWA — A new report from Statistics Canada suggests aboriginal Canadians were nearly three times as likely to experience sexual assault in 2014 as their non-aboriginal counterparts.
The report, entitled "Victimization of Aboriginal People in Canada," found 58 incidents out of every 1,000 respondents, compared with 20 incidents per 1,000 non-aboriginal people.
It also found nine per cent of respondents reported experiencing spousal violence that year, more than twice the rate of four per cent in the non-indigenous population.
Statcan also concludes that 28 per cent of aboriginal respondents — about 275,000 people aged 15 or older — reported being victims of crime in 2014, down from 38 per cent in 2009.
The report compiled statistics on eight specific types of crime: sexual assault, robbery, physical assault, theft of personal, motor vehicle or household property, breaking and entering and vandalism.
The 2014 report surveyed 33,127 respondents from provinces across Canada and 2,040 in the territories.
