99,000 Canadians reported family violence in 2010

About 99,000 Canadians were victim to police-reported domestic violence in 2010, according to a Statistics Canada report, with Saint John, N.B., having the highest rate per 100,000 people and Ottawa having the lowest.

Thereport indicatesalmost half of the reports had a spouse accused of the violence. Women were also almost twice as likely to be avictimof domestic abuse in 2010.

The five highest rates of reporteddomestic violence in Canadian citiesper a population of 100,000 people were, in order:

• Saint John, N.B.
• Saskatoon, Sask.
• Kelowna, B.C.
• Abbotsford-Mission, B.C.
• Gatineau, Que.

Ottawa had the lowest rate of reported domestic violence per a population of 100,000 people in 2010. The five cities who reported the least amount of family violence were:

• Ottawa
• Peterborough, Ont.
• St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont.
• Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont.
• Guelph, Ont.

Ottawa, Gatineau at opposite ends of spectrum

Ottawa had 98 reported victims of family violence per 100,000 people, almost half the rate of Peterborough, the next lowest metropolitan area, which had 172 reported victims per 100,000 people.

Gatineau, Que.'s rate320 victims per 100,000is more than three times that of its Ontario neighbour Ottawa. But police spokesman Const. Pierre Lanthier said his police force has a high-profile prevention unit, and that may be helping more people come forward.

"The victims are really afraid when something like that happens. Just by the fact that they are willing to talk to police officers, that's a really good thing for us," said Lanthier.

Of the provinces,Ontario had the lowestpolice-reported rates. The provincewith the highest rate wasSaskatchewan, while Nunavut reported the highest rate among the territories.

The two other key findings in the report had reported dating violence higher than spousal violence, and more children reported witnessing domestic violence in 2009 compared to 2004.