Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 14/02) - Sexually transmitted diseases are far more prevalent in the North than the rest of the country.

What we don't know is if the soaring rate of sexual assaults in the territories is involved.

Joanne MacKinnon gives out information and does STD tests, including HIV tests, at the Yellowknife STD clinic. - Dawn Ostrem/NNSL photo

The NWT chief medical officer thinks maybe it is.

"One of the concerns I have, which is not being talked about very openly, is sexual abuse and how that contributes to the level of STDs in young people," says Dr. Andre Corriveau, adding, "I think we have to find a way to connect this."

In researching the subject it was found that the departments of health and social services and justice are hesitant to make the same connection. There are no statistics to back it up, health and justice officials say.

As far as those willing to share an opinion without charts and statistics on hand, some say it is certainly an element of the high STD rate.

P.W. Kaeser high school counsellor Susan Ward in Fort Smith admits she does not know if sexual abuse is the cause of climbing rates.

"Boy, if we could answer that we could attack that one with more of a rifle shot than a shotgun," she says. "I don't disagree with him," she adds about the comments of Corriveau.

But in her educated opinion there could be several reasons for such high rates -- seven to eight times higher than in southern Canada.

"That is bound to be a part of it but I would hesitate to say that is why. Maybe a broader issue is family dysfunction," she says.

Sexual abuse in the home is obviously a part of family dysfunction and, she adds, it can be expressed in sexual or other inappropriate ways.

Joanne MacKinnon included childhood sexual abuse as part of a study she summarized in the Summer 2001 edition of Epinorth, the NWT disease newsletter.

Of the 219 females who tested positive for an STD at the Yellowknife Public Health Unit between 1999 and 2001, at least 45 had a history of childhood sexual abuse.

The number of males of the 164 who tested positive and a had a history of childhood sexual abuse is unknown.

"I ask about it because if there are some unresolved issues I can make a referral and that is where it begins and ends with me," says Mackinnon, a public health nurse helping run the clinic.

She goes on to say that although that "related factor" may not be a direct one, it is easy to see how it may effect the rate of STDs.

"A woman who has experienced childhood sexual abuse or abuse in her adult relationship ... that may affect her self-esteem so probably has difficulty negotiating safer sex," she says, adding substance abuse is also an element.

The amount of reported sexual abuse is high in the Northwest Territories.

The only statistical data available involve the number of convictions, which is 36 per cent higher in the NWT than in the rest of Canada per capita.

The amount of unreported abuse is unknown.

Corriveau says he believes "there is a lot of forced sexual activity that is going on with older boys and younger girls.

"If you are being forced into a sexual act, even if you know you should be using a condom, it is not going to help," he adds.

Like Ward, he says it will be a hard problem to alleviate, especially from where professionals are approaching it right now.

"I don't think this problem has been explored or is even being discussed sufficiently at this point," he says.

Ward can only add what she has dealt with as a school counsellor but her input supports Corriveau's claim.

She knows of some kids having drinking parties when parents are not home, ultimately wandering into bedrooms and having sex at random.

How many of those kids are forced? We don't know.

How many have STDs? Between April and June last year 324 did in the NWT.

Tracking the problem

Other possible reasons for a high STD rate in the NWT include substance abuse, problems tracing sexual contacts and denial, the fact that many STDs show no symptoms and a higher population of younger people.

Chlamydia was three times as prevalent as other reportable diseases between April and June in 2001 (242 cases). Number 2 was gonorrhoea (82 cases).

In 1999 the NWT had a rate of 870.1 STDs per 100,000 people. The national rate was 123.8.

The number of convictions for sexual assault in 2000 in the NWT was 36 per cent higher than the Canadian average per capita.