Library of Parliament: Seven Facts to Better Understand Violence Against Women in Canada

The Library Parliament blog HillNotes published an article last week entitled Seven Facts to Better Understand Violence Against Women in Canada.

It appeared on December 6, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women that marks the 1989 École polytechnique massacre of 14 female engineering students in Montreal.

The 7 facts that the post lists are:

• Victimization rates are higher for women than for men
• Women are over-represented as victims of some crimes 
• Some groups of women are at greater risk of experiencing violence (due to racism, homophobia, discrimination based on physical ability)
• Homicide rates are six times higher for Indigenous women than for non-Indigenous women
• Eighty-five percent of crimes committed against women are committed by people they know
• Only about 12% of police-reported sexual assaults result in a conviction
• Violence against women has significant impacts on victims and on Canadian society