Justice committee  Not in this study, no.

Justice committee  These figures are based on a study that was done using 2008 data called “Costs of Crime in Canada”. It looked at Criminal Code offences.

Justice committee  I'm not sure. I would have to consult the study once again.

Justice committee  No.

Justice committee  We do know that the number of charges is going down. The youth crime rate is going down. I'm not really prepared to speak to any of the other more detailed statistics, but I'm able to get that information to the committee. There's an excellent “Juristat” from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.

Justice committee  As I mentioned earlier, a number of factors affect the crime rate: the economy, employment. Those sorts of factors would influence the crime rate, and more specifically the rate of indigenous involvement in the criminal justice system. Other changes could be some of the things raised earlier with respect to policies or legislation.

Justice committee  These are data provided to the United Nations by the countries identified.

Justice committee  There has been an increase in the incarceration rate in Canada. However, I don't know how it compares with the increases or decreases that may have occurred in the other countries identified here. We can get you that information, if you would be interested.

Justice committee  I don't have that information at hand.

Justice committee  We know that at all levels of the criminal justice system indigenous peoples represent 20% to 25% of the overall population. That's all I can say there.

Justice committee  No, we don't have research that would point to that.

Justice committee  The best source of national statistics in this area is Statistics Canada's Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics. It obtains the information through the national justice statistics initiative, which is a partnership with provinces and territories. The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics collects national policing data, courts data, and corrections data.

Justice committee  The police, courts, and corrections data are provided annually. In addition, I might mention that Statistics Canada does a victimization survey every five years. That is a source of information on crime that is not reported to police. The most recent one was conducted in 2014.

Justice committee  As acting director of research and statistics, I would like to see better data in this area, of course. To my mind, the best decisions would be data driven. However, there are certain challenges, of course, to obtaining this data in a timely way to inform decisions.

Justice committee  We don't have very good statistics on that issue. The research and the data do show that the northern parts of the provinces also have high crime rates, in between those of the territories and the provinces. Of course, crime is affected by many factors, including economic factors, unemployment rates, lack of education, and lack of employment opportunities.