Yukon, N.W.T. and Nunavut home to highest homicide rates in Canada

Homicide rates across Canada's territories were the highest in the country in 2014, according to data released Wednesday by Statistics Canada.

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According to the report, the national homicide rate in 2014 was 1.45 victims per 100,000 people. Nunavut hadthe highest homicide rate in the country at 10.93 victims per 100,000 people, more than seven times the national rate.

Yukon had the second highest rate in Canada, at 8.22 victims per 100,000 people, while the Northwest Territories was third, at 6.88.

Small population sizes contributed to the high rates reported per 100,000 population according to Statistics Canada,there were three homicides each in Yukon and Northwest Territories in 2014, and four in Nunavut, for a total of 10 across the territories.

Nearly one quarter of homicide victims across Canada aboriginal

According to Statistics Canada's data, 23 per cent of homicide victims across Canada in 2014 were reported by police as aboriginal, despite aboriginal people accounting for just five per cent of the national population. Aboriginal people were victims of homicide at a rate about six times higher than that of non-aboriginal people.

This is the first year that Statistics Canada has reported data on the aboriginal identity of homicide victims and those accused of homicide.

All of the homicide victims in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in 2014 were of aboriginal descent, as well asone of the three victims in Yukon.

Aboriginal males were seven times more likely to be homicide victims than non-aboriginal males in 2014 according to the data, while aboriginal women were six times more likely to be homicide victims than non-aboriginal women.

Almost one third of the people accused of homicide in Canada in 2014 32 per centwere of aboriginal descent.

The rate of aboriginal people accused of homicide was 8.55 per 100,000 people, more than 10 times higher than the rate for Canada's non-aboriginal population.