Thank you very much, and thank you for the opportunity to present to the committee on the act to protect children from sexual predators.
Statistics Canada does not take a position on the bill.
The presentation we have prepared contains our most recent data on the sexual offences committed against children that are the subject of this bill. They include only the sexual offences against children that have come to the attention of the police and the courts.
The version we are presenting to you today differs slightly from the advance copy you received. During the verification process we noticed an anomaly with data received from Quebec; that anomaly has been corrected. Slides 4, 5, and 6 of the presentation were affected.
All data sources used are clearly indicated on the slides, as are any pertinent data notes. My colleagues, Ms. Mia Dauvergne and Mr. Craig Grimes, will help answer any questions.
Please turn to slide 2 in the presentation.
Using data received from police services across Canada, we can examine trends in police-reported incidents of sexual offences committed against children. Over the last ten years, the rate of overall police-reported sexual offences committed against children has remained relatively stable.
Sexual offences committed against children can be grouped into two categories: sexual assault and other sexual offences.
The rate of police-reported sexual assaults committed against children has been generally declining since 2005, while the rate of other sexual offences committed against children has increased in the last two years.
On slide 3, we can examine the geographical variation in the rates and number of victims of police-reported sexual offences against children.
In 2009, the highest rates of these offences in Canada were in the north. While rates were used to ensure that trends are not biased by variations in populations, it is important to note that the number of incidents of these offences in the north is considerably lower than in most provinces.
Slide 4 provides an overview of the ages of police-reported sexual assaults against children. In general, for police-reported sexual offences committed against children and youth, we know that females are more likely than males to be the victims and that teenage girls are the most at risk. This finding holds true for victims of police-reported offences of child sexual assault.
In 2009, more young females than males were victims of police-reported—