Ottawa, Nov 26 (IANS): The homicide rate for Indigenous victims was seven times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous people in Canada in 2020, according to Statistics Canada.

In a report on Thursday, Statistics Canada said that the homicide rate is 10.05 per 100,000 population for Indigenous peoples, compared with 1.41 per 100,000 for non-Indigenous people, reports Xinhua news agency.

Statistics Canada said police reported 743 homicides in 2020. This is the highest number of homicides recorded in Canada since 1991, and 56 more than in 2019, pushing the country's homicide rate up 7 per cent from 1.83 homicides per 100,000 population in 2019 to 1.95 per 100,000 population in 2020.

This marks the highest national homicide rate since 2005.

There were 201 indigenous victims of homicide, representing 28 per cent of all homicide victims in Canada in 2020.

The number of indigenous men victims increased 32, or up 24 per cent, to 163 compared with 2019, the highest since 2014 when data on indigenous identity first became available.

Homicide rates were almost eight times greater for Indigenous men of 16.50 per 100,000 population than non-Indigenous men of 2.14 per 100,000 population.

Among women, rates were almost five and half times greater for 3.76 per 100,000 Indigenous women compared with 0.69 per 100,000 non-Indigenous women.

A history of colonisation, including residential schools, work camps and forced relocation, profoundly impacted Indigenous communities and families.

Indigenous people often experience social and institutional marginalisation, discrimination, and various forms of trauma and violence, including intergenerational trauma and gender-based violence.

As a result, many experience challenging social and economic circumstances.

These factors play a significant role in the over-representation of Indigenous peoples in the criminal justice system and as victims of crime.