The latest Statistics Canada data for police-reported violence against men and boys shows Saskatchewan has one of the highest rates in the country. The data includes violent acts such as assault, homicide and intimate partner violence.
Among Canadian provinces, only Manitoba had a higher rate of such violence in 2021 (the latest data available): Saskatchewan had 1,666 police-reported incidents per 100,000 male population, while Manitoba had 1,805.
The Canadian average was 1,015 victims per 100,000 male population, an increase of 12 per cent from 2016. Before 2016, that average had been on the decline each year since 2011. With the exception of 2020, it’s been on the rise each year since.
Alexandra Lysova, an associate professor of criminology at Simon Fraser University in B.C., has studied violence against males for more than a decade.
She says it’s an issue that needs more scrutiny, especially since men are more likely to be victims of homicide.
“It’s been too long that such an important issue in our society hasn’t been discussed,” she said.
“Men who experience abuse, we know there are thousands of them. There should be a discussion on male victimization so men know it happens, and feel more accepted and try not to hide it in themselves.”
In total, there were 192,413 men and boys who were victims of police-reported violent crime in Canada in 2021, 79 per cent of whom were victimized by someone outside the family.
This violence is particularly concentrated in rural northern areas, the report shows.
Canada-wide, “the rate of violent victimization against men and boys was 3,519 per 100,000 population in the rural North, three times higher than the rate in the rural South (1,034) and nearly four times higher than in urban areas (936),” Statistics Canada states.
In Saskatchewan that rural-urban divide is particularly pronounced.
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“In Saskatchewan, the rate of victimization was seven times higher in the rural North versus the rural South (10,952 versus 1,528) and almost nine times higher than in urban areas (1,242),” the report shows.
Among the 25-to-34 age group in Saskatchewan’s rural north, the rate of police-reported violence was a staggering 21,194 per 100,000 male population — the highest rate in that particular category anywhere in the country.
“Some of the reasons may be, of course, the colonization and intergenerational trauma, so when the relationships between the generations were severed can relate to high alcohol and substance use, mental illnesses,” Lysova said. “And it also relates to policing, or lack of proper policing in these areas. It also relates to quality of life and other social reasons.”
Saskatchewan also has among the highest rates of violence against women in the country.
In 2021, the rate of police-reported violence against women and girls was 2,326 incidents per 100,000 population. That was the highest rate of any province, and more than twice the national average of 1,190.
Lysova says intimate partner violence specifically, for which police-reported data is captured in its own Statistics Canada report, is often bi-directional – meaning both partners serve as both the perpetrator and victim of abuse.
She says it’s important to point out that while police-reported data tends to show women as victims in about 80 per cent of cases, some self-reported surveys on domestic violence show as many men as women reporting being victims — though she stresses that many more women end up being killed in these situations than men. She says treating victims is key to breaking cycles.
“Family violence is a very specific type of crime. It happens very often bi-directionally, in the majority,” Lysova said.
“I argue that it’s very important to work with men both if they’ve perpetrated and if they’re victims of abuse. Men are depressed, experience many emotions of anger, lonesome consequences, and something close to PTSD almost in the same way as women do. The victims may be more likely to use and abuse alcoholic substances. These are risk factors for the next cycle of abuse.”
Lysova says there is room for improvement when it comes to providing support for male victims, from social services to policing to the legal system. She says, for instance, that among 557 government-funded residential facilities for victims of crime in Canada, only 24 facilities were mandated to help men.
“When I talk to abused men they say they have nowhere to go,” said Lysova.
She adds this doesn’t mean these facilities don’t help men, but that personnel often aren’t specifically trained to deal with men.
“We probably need gender-specific help for men. For example, men do not like to use ‘victims or survivors’. They prefer more agency-based language. So these minor things show us there may be very specific aspects of working with men,” she said.
“People working in these services, they’re not prepared to deal with men. They don’t know what to tell them. They turn them away. Some laugh at them. Some blame them for their own victimization suggesting that men do something to the women for the women to treat them that way.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or is involved in an abusive situation, please visit the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime for help. They are also reachable toll-free at 1-877-232-2610.
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