Solve rate of female homicides Canada 1980-2012, by Aboriginal identity and province

This statistic shows the rate of solved female homicides in Canada from 1980 to 2012, by Aboriginal identity and province or territory. Between those years, 80 percent of murders of Aboriginal women in Nova Scotia were solved.

Victimization of Aboriginal Women

The number of Aboriginal women in Canada that have been murdered or gone missing over the last few decades has sparked outrage and national debate in the nation. When Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau won his election in 2015, he announced a national inquiry into the matter. Though the government puts the official number of missing and murdered Aboriginal women over the last three decades at roughly 1,200, members of the Aboriginal community say they believe the number is closer to 4,000. So far, the Canadian government has budgeted 40 million dollars over the next two years towards the inquiry, beginning with the 2017 fiscal year.

Aboriginal women are consistently victims of homicide at a far higher rate than their non-Aboriginal counterparts. From 2001 to 2014 the average rate of homicides of Aboriginal women was six times greater than that of non-Aboriginal women. Furthermore, while the homicide rate for non-Aboriginal women has been declining, the rate for Aboriginal women has remained virtually unchanged. Nunavut, already topping the list of most violent places in Canada, had the highest number of murdered Aboriginal women between 1980 and 2012.