Jennifer Geens
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 16/05) - Fear of violence has become part of everyday life for women in Yellowknife.

Each woman at the city's 14th Take Back the Night event had their own reason for marching.

Chelsea McNaughton said getting harassed on the street is commonplace.

On a single day in 2002: Victim services agencies in the NWT provided assistance to 40 clients, nine out of 10 were female; 53 per cent were victims of sexual assault; 45 per cent were victims of other violent offenses, including physical assault; 16 per cent were victimized by friends, acquaintances or strangers; and 84 per cent were victimized by family members or intimate partners. - source: Statistics Canada Yellowknife in 2004: 185 sexual assaults; Two aggravated sexual assaults; 275 spousal assaults by male offender; 52 spousal assaults by female offenders; 12 cases of sexual abuse of children under 12; and 23 cases of sexual abuse of youth 12 to 18; - source: Yellowknife RCMP detachment In Canada: 96 per cent of sexual offences are committed by men; 82 per cent of the victims are women; and About 10 per cent of assaults result in a conviction, even fewer result in jail time. - source: CRIAW, Police Chiefs Association of Canada Average sentence in Canada for serious violent offenses such as sexual assault, aggravated assault and murder - 6 years. Average sentence in the NWT - 5 years. 83 per cent of serious violent offenders in the NWT are likely to re-offend compared to 63 per cent in rest of Canada. - source: Corrections Canada

"It's just something you get used to on 'Range Street' - there's always somebody yelling," she said. "During the day, at night, when I'm alone, when I'm with people...."

But McNaughton said she and her friends just try to shrug it off.

"I don't think it's right, but I don't think there's anything I could do on my own to fix it," she said.

This year's Take Back the Night march attracted about 80 people. Meant to raise awareness about all forms of violence against women, the march began with a recitation of dire statistics. In 2004, the NWT led the nation in crime per capita. The rate of shelter use in the NWT is eight times the national average.

Onus on men

Outside the Centre for Northern Families, Lynn Brooks told marchers the onus shouldn't be on women to keep themselves safe.

"If you follow someone home from the bar and rape them, you should go to jail," she said. "If you go to a party and there's a girl passed out in the bathroom and you take advantage of her, you belong in jail."

The march proceeded along the Frame Lake Trail to City Hall. Surrounded by 80 people and a police escort is the only way Verna Beaulieu would consider walking the trail after dusk.

"Not even with a girlfriend," she said of her options.

Other stops included the legislative assembly, the courthouse, and the bars on 50th Street.

Nikki Pidborochynski thinks the official statistics, as bad as they are, underestimate the problem.

"There's going to be something like nine of 10 women who don't come forward, and girls who are too young to come forward on their own," she said.

Pidborochynski said she gets harassed "lots" just walking down the street. Recently a woman she knows was accosted walking out of a supermarket.

"A guy went up to her and grabbed at her in a 'I want to take you home' kind of thing," she said. "You hear so many stories from girls and women and it doesn't matter where you are, even in the middle of the day."

Friends Jawah Scott and Madeline Holloway were among a handful of teenagers at the march.

"One of my friends was threatened to be beat up by some people down by the mall, and now we can't really go there because she's too scared to," said Scott.

"I certainly don't feel safe," said Roberta Kennedy. That concern extends to her children: more for her 13-year-old daughter than her two older sons.

"I worry about her a lot," she said. "I guess it's a sexist thing maybe, but I don't feel comfortable with her going downtown even in the daytime by herself."

During the stop at the RCMP detachment, one marcher had a very simple question for Const. Colleen Werrell. Was she going to take the bad people and put them in jail forever?

"It doesn't always work that way," she replied.

In fact, according to Corrections Canada, violent offenders in the NWT receive a shorter average sentence than the national average, and have a rate of re-offending 20 per cent higher than the national average.

Marcher Shannon Wheson said making the streets safe would take a concerted community effort. "I think the responsibility falls to everyone," she said. "We have to look after each other."