Evidence of meeting #85 for Canadian Heritage in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was data.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Aurangzeb Qureshi  Vice-President, Public Policy and Communications, Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council
Karim Achab  Professor of Linguistics, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
Yasmine Mohammed  Author, As an Individual
Faisal Khan Suri  President, Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council
Yvan Clermont  Director, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada
Rebecca Kong  Chief, Policing Services Program, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada

5 p.m.

Director, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada

Yvan Clermont

Sorry, I was referring to the increase in the last year of data, from 2014 to 2015, which amounts to 5%. You are right, though. There was a decrease after 2009.

5 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry

Thank you, Monsieur Clermont.

David, we've gone well over the seven minutes.

I will go to Ms. Kwan, for seven minutes.

5 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Thank you to our officials for this report.

Two-thirds of the victims did not report the incident to the police. Is that number across the board for the different provinces? Is there any significant difference between provinces and territories in terms of not reporting to the police, or is it pretty well across the board that about two-thirds of the incidents in each of the provinces and territories are not reported to the police?

5:05 p.m.

Chief, Policing Services Program, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada

Rebecca Kong

We don't have that information with us. We would have to provide that to the committee.

5:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry

Could you, please?

5:05 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

I am curious to see a province-by-province and territory-by-territory comparison, to see whether any province stands out, or whether everybody is not reporting, across the board. Likewise, I am interested to know.... The package that we received gives a year-by-year breakdown of the number of incidents, and there are some years when the numbers jump significantly in a particular province, almost double. If we look at those years in comparison to the demographic changes or immigration trends, I am wondering whether anything would jump out to show us that something unique is happening there, or whether these things are just randomly happening.

I gather you don't have that level of detail here with you.

5:05 p.m.

Director, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada

Yvan Clermont

No, I don't.

5:05 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

If we could get that, I would be very interested to know the year-to-year comparison of all the different provinces and territories, and to see how the demographics may have shifted—whether there was an increase of a particular ethnicity in that province for that year, or anything like that. That would be very useful and helpful.

I guess with all this information.... This is the information you don't collect; I'm not sure if you do. Of the cases that were reported, do you have any data on how many were not just reported but prosecuted, and the outcome of that prosecution? Do you have that information as well?

5:05 p.m.

Director, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada

Yvan Clermont

No, we don't have that.

5:05 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

You don't gather it at all.

5:05 p.m.

Director, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada

5:05 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

That's all within the police's domain.

5:05 p.m.

Director, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada

5:05 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

In terms of reporting, you have the gender analysis as well. Am I reading this chart right? This is the chart where you have it broken down by age and gender, and then by ethnicity, religion, and orientation. Is that the number of the persons accused?

5:05 p.m.

Chief, Policing Services Program, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada

Rebecca Kong

This is the table.

5:05 p.m.

Director, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada

Yvan Clermont

Yes, it's the accused.

5:05 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Do you have the same breakdown of reporting as well, of the cases that are reported? I'm curious to know how many of them are women, for example.

5:05 p.m.

Chief, Policing Services Program, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada

Rebecca Kong

Do you mean in terms of the victims?

5:05 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Yes.

5:05 p.m.

Chief, Policing Services Program, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada

Rebecca Kong

We have victim information for violent violations, which we can provide as well.

5:05 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Is that for hate crimes?

5:05 p.m.

Chief, Policing Services Program, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada

Rebecca Kong

Yes. When I say “violent violations”.... In the uniform crime reporting survey, we collect victim information only if the violation is a violent one, not if it's a property one, so for violent hate crimes, we'll have that for you.

5:05 p.m.

Liberal

Arif Virani Liberal Parkdale—High Park, ON

Can you specify which table you're talking about, Jenny?

5:05 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

I'm looking at table 2. It's for the accused, but I'm wondering if we can get a similar kind of information for victims so that we get a sense of who the victims are from that perspective.

With people saying they are not comfortable with reporting.... You have information about the reasons why people don't report. Is there a distinction with age and gender, or is that across the board?

5:05 p.m.

Chief, Policing Services Program, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada

Rebecca Kong

We would have to look at the data that way. We just did it overall, for all victims, in terms of the reasons for not reporting.