A report to the Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners says four of the twelve homicides last year have an intimate partner violence component. Three of the charged individuals were male and one was female.

The report to be presented at tomorrow’s (Thurs) meeting states that there were 720 incidents last year, which is a 14 per cent increase compared to 2022. Saskatchewan has the highest rate of both police reported family violence and specifically intimate partner violence of all the provinces. There were 732 reports of intimate partner violence per 100,000 population in 2022, which is 99 cases higher than Manitoba in second spot. The national national average is 337 victims per 100,000.

The report notes there are many forms of intimate partner violence – physical abuse, harassment, which includes stalking, sexual violence, financial abuse, and coercive control, which is psychological and emotional abuse.

The number of potential hate crimes the Saskatoon Police Hate Crimes Unit investigated doubled from 2022 to ’23. There were 208 recorded events the first year the Unit was implemented in 2022 and the next year, there were 403. A report being presented to the Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners says the main reason for the increase is because there is now a Unit dedicated to hate crimes, allowing for more of a focus on searching, tracking and investigating these suspected crimes.

Of the 403 calls last year, 64 were considered either a hate crime or a suspected hate crime. One of the cases was about advocating genocide, three were public incitement of hatred and four dealt with mischief to religious property.