Philippe Morin
Northern News Services
Published Monday, August 13, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - The Northwest Territories led the country in property crime in 2006 and had the second highest rate of violent crime, reports Statistics Canada.

The recent report said the NWT had a rate of 6,357 property crimes per 100,000 population. The province with the next highest rate was B.C. with 5,685.

Nunavut had the highest violent crime rate in 2006, with 6,764 violent crimes per 100,000 population, and NWT was second with 6,448 violent crimes per 100,000 population.

This category includes assaults, murders, and sexual assault.

Overall, NWT's crime rate declined by five per cent between 2005 and 2006.

In Yellowknife, the rate of violent crime was four times the Canadian average, while outlying communities in the NWT had a rate 12 times higher.

In total, the NWT had a rate of violent crime seven times the national average.

Property crimes in the NWT - such as theft and vandalism - were also recorded as twice the national average for 2006.

For 2006 relative to 2005, the total incidence of crime declined 3.1 per cent across Canada.

The largest decline was in Nunavut, where crime dropped 11 per cent, followed by P.E.I at 9.9 per cent.