General Social Survey, Cycle 23, 2009 [Canada]: Victimization, Incident File

This survey is the only national survey of self-reported victimization which provides data on criminal victimization for the provinces and territories. As not all crimes are reported to the police for a variety of reasons, the survey provides an important complement to officially recorded crime rates.

It measures both crime incidents that come to the attention of the police and those that are unreported. It also helps to understand why some people choose whether or not to report a crime to the police. Results from this survey will be used by police departments, all levels of government, victim and social service agencies, community groups and researchers in universities to study Canadians' perceptions of the level of crime around them and their attitudes toward the criminal justice system; to profile victims of crimes; and to study characteristics of criminal incidents.