Measuring violence against women:
The Canadian experience
François Nault
Director, Statistics Canada
November 2013
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Statistics Canada data sources to
measure violence against women
Police-reported administrative surveys
 Uniform Crime Reporting Survey
 Homicide Survey
Self-reported victimization survey
 General Social Survey on Victimization
Other administrative surveys
 Transition Home Survey (shelters for abused women)
 Victim Services Survey
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Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
Police statistics – Uniform Crime
Reporting Survey
 Collecting aggregate police statistics since 1962.
 In 1988, it began collecting micro data from police
services.
• Victim and accused characteristics
• Incident characteristics
• Relationship of victim and accused
 Number of police services covered in the micro data
increased steadily over the years. The coverage now
stands at 99%.
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Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
Women almost four times more likely
than men to be victims of intimate
partner violence, 2011
Rate per 100,000 population
Source: Statistics Canada, Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey.
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Police statistics – Homicide Survey
 Homicide Survey began in 1961
 Began collecting data on family-related homicides in
1974
 In 1991, 1997, and 2005, the survey was revised and
expanded
•
•
•
•
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Relationship categories
Previous conviction history
History of domestic violence
Victim’s use of force at the time of the homicide
Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
Rates of intimate partner homicide
declined by half in last 20 years
Source: Statistics Canada, Homicide Survey.
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Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
Advantages and disadvantages of
police-reported data
Advantages
 Annual statistics
 Standard measure over time and among cities and provinces
 Based on physical evidence and witnesses
 Mandatory survey
Disadvantages
 No victim information exists for non-violent crime, such as financial
abuse (e.g., theft, forgery, fraud)
 No information about the consequences of violence beyond physical
injury
 Includes only those incidents that come to the attention of police,
which is a greater issue for intimate partner violence and sexual
violence
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Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
Self-reported victimization surveys
 Canadian Violence Against Women Survey (VAWS)
• One-time sample survey of Canadian women aged 15 years and
older conducted in 1993
• Conducted by phone
 General Social Survey on Victimization
• Began in 1988, repeated every five years
• Sample survey of Canadians aged 15 years and older
• Conducted by phone
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Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
Lessons learned from the Violence
Against Women Survey (VAWS)
• The importance of early and transparent consultation with
stakeholders and potential critics to ensure the utility and
relevance of the data.
• The need to use recognized definitions for measuring
social phenomenon (e.g., Criminal Code).
• The need to have collection approaches and mechanisms
that are appropriate given the sensitivity of the subject
matter (i.e., sensitivity training, sex of interviewers).
• The importance of establishing in advance an analytical
framework that will produce policy relevant “information”,
not just numbers.
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Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
Building from the VAWS experience
 Statistics Canada considered options for integrating
the survey content within an existing populationbased survey.
 It was decided to develop a special module on
spousal violence within the General Social Survey
(GSS). The questions contained in this module were
modelled off the VAWS.
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Self-reported victimization surveys
Improvements to the GSS with each cycle
• 1988: First general victim survey
• 1993: Better measures of sexual assault
• 1999: Special modules to measure spousal violence,
now repeated with every victimization cycle
• 2004: Special module on criminal
harassment/stalking
• 2009: Cybercrime and experiences of victimization
before the age of 15
• 2014: Expansion of questions on victimization in
childhood and new questions on dating violence and
witnessing spousal violence as a child.
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Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
Women more likely to experience severe forms
of spousal violence, 2009
*
*
† reference category
* significantly different from reference category (p < 0.05)
Source: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey on Victimization.
Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
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Dealt with another way: Top reason for not
reporting spousal violence to police, 2009
*
† reference category
* significantly different from reference category (p < 0.05)
Source: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey on Victimization.
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Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
Advantages and disadvantages of
self-reported data
Advantages
 Allows examination of crime that goes unreported to police
 Provides information on non-violent forms of spousal abuse (i.e.,
emotional and financial abuse)
 Captures information on consequences of victimization, levels of
reporting to police, children’s exposure to spousal violence and
social service utilization
Disadvantages
 Possible exclusion of certain population groups of women - those
living in institutions and those unable to communicate in English or
French
 Voluntary: relies on willingness of Canadians to participate
 Subject to sampling error
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Two additional surveys
Transition Home Survey
 Mail survey to all shelters in Canada
 Bi-annual
 Characteristics of shelters and services
 One-day snapshot of women and children residents
Victim Services Survey
 Mail survey to all victim services
 Characteristics of victim services
 One-day snapshot of victims provided service
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Analysis and dissemination
 Collecting data on violence against women and men is not enough.
Gender-based analysis of data is critical to ensuring the information
is relevant to both policy and programs.
 Statistics Canada is committed to conducting robust analysis on
women’s experience of victimization and making these findings
publicly available (e.g., recent release of ‘Measuring Violence
Against Women: Statistical Trends’ - February 2013)
 Future efforts will continue to link record within and across surveys
to further strengthen analysis and address information gaps.
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