by Cheryl Leschasin
Northern News Services

Fact File

In 1996, 45 sexual assaults were reported to Yellowknife RCMP.

In 1994, 704 sexual assaults were reported in the NWT.

Out of 20 victims in Canada, only one or two report the crime to police.

In the NWT, nine out of every 10 women and teenage girls who reported a sexual assault were raped by someone they knew.

Half of all rapes in the NWT happen in the home of the victim or the offender.

There are no rape crisis centres in the NWT

(Statistics courtesy Status of Women Council of the NWT and Yellowknife RCMP)

NNSL (Sep 24/97) - Almost 200 people turned out to take part in the Take Back the Night march, held last Thursday evening in downtown Yellowknife.

An annual event in Yellowknife since 1990, the march is held in cities and towns across Canada the third Thursday in September to protest violence against women and children.

"Since the beginning of our Take Back the Night marches in the NWT (in 1990), we have seen some improvements that have increased the safety and equality of women, but we are saying that it is not good enough," said Addena Sumter Freitag, a community worker with the Status of Women Council of the NWT.

"We got some really good feedback from the people," said Freitag, who also said she and other organizers were very pleased with the turnout of women, men and children. "We're already making plans for next year."