Yellowknife (July 30/03) - The Northwest Territories continues to hold the dubious distinction of having the highest crime rate in Canada, according to a report by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.

And there's more bad news. Crime increased 6.4 per cent in the Northwest Territories in 2002, while the national rate barely budged -- dropping by O.6 per cent.

Nunavut, PEI and the Yukon reported the largest increases in crime, while Quebec and Ontario boasted the largest decline.

Nunavut's crime rate swelled by 13.3 per cent, PEI's rate jumped by 11. 5 per cent and the Yukon's rate increased by 8.5 percent. Crime went down in Quebec by 2.4 per cent and down in Ontario by 2.3 per cent.

In the NWT, violent crime climbed by 17.2 per cent. The NWT violent crime rate is 5,688 per 100,000 -- more than five and a half times Canada's national rate.

The number of people charged with property offenses jumped by 16.8 per cent, bringing the rate to 6,045 per 100,000, compared to the Canadian average of 3,960 per 100,000.

Although the population of the Northwest Territories is 41,403, the crime rate is adjusted to reflect the rate per 100,000 for easier comparison with other jurisdictions.

Only the Yukon's spike in sexual assaults exceeded ours. The report, released last week, found sexual assaults increased by 23.8 per cent in the NWT, compared to 37.8 in the Yukon.

A more recent report concluded the NWT's sexual assault rate jumped by 27 per cent. This follows several year of decline. In 2001, the sex assault rate dropped by 19 per cent and in 2000 by 11 per cent.

This recent report found there were 196 reported sexual assaults in the NWT, which brings the rate to 473 per 100,000 -- more than five times the Canadian average.

On a slightly more hopeful note, the total number of youth charged with crimes fell by 12.9 per cent while the Canadian average dipped by 4.8 per cent.

RCMP Insp. Paul Richards said it's important to study what factors are contributing to this and give the statistics context.

What could these factors be?

"It's difficult to say," he said. "We'll have to take a look across quite a broad range. I don't think the answers are simple."

But he said the booming economy and subsequent migration of people into the territory could be a factor.

The RCMP will study the statistics and work closely with the department of justice to give context to these figures.

Glen Rutland at the department of justice said the department will use the figures in its business plan, which is presented to MLAs and available to the public.

He added the NWT's smaller population means a tiny increase in the number of offences can have a huge impact on crime rates.