Police-Reported Intimate Partner Violence in Canada Rises for Eighth Consecutive Year
Statistics Canada reports a 2% increase in police-reported intimate partner violence from 2024 to 2025, marking the eighth straight year of rising rates. Experts point to socioeconomic stressors, an anti-feminist backlash, and increased reporting as contributing factors, while Indigenous women continue to face disproportionate harm.
The average rate of police-reported intimate partner violence (IPV) in Canada rose by 2% in 2025 compared to 2024, according to Statistics Canada, marking the eighth consecutive year of increases. Rates in 2025 were 15% higher than in 2018.
Kaitlynn Mendes, interim director at Western University, suggested the rise may reflect both an increase in violent incidents and more victims coming forward due to movements like #MeToo and a broader definition of IPV. Mendes also attributed part of the increase to an "anti-feminist backlash," noting that influencers are promoting aggressiveness and dominance as masculine traits.
Alexa Yakubovich from Dalhousie University linked the rise in IPV reports to socioeconomic factors exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, including inadequate housing, food insecurity, and unemployment.
Between 2024 and 2025, IPV rates dropped in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. However, all of these provinces experienced significant increases over the eight-year period since 2018.
Geographic disparities remain stark. In 2025, IPV rates in Canada's territories were three to 19 times higher than the national average, while Manitoba and Saskatchewan recorded rates nearly two times the national average.
Indigenous women are disproportionately affected. One in six Indigenous women in Canada have experienced at least one form of intimate partner violence. Although Indigenous women account for 5% of all women in the country, they made up approximately 26% of all women killed by an intimate partner in 2022.
Several provinces have formally recognized the severity of the crisis. Nova Scotia was the first province to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic in 2024, followed by New Brunswick in 2025 and Newfoundland and Labrador in May. Experts argue that such declarations must be accompanied by funding elevated to "epidemic proportions" for community support services and healthcare systems to be effective.