Over one-quarter of violent crime committed in Saskatchewan RCMP jurisdiction is intimate partner violence (IPV), and victims in a dating relationship with a boyfriend or girlfriend overwhelmingly lead those experiencing IPV, according to 2024 RCMP data.
“Dating violence is a consistent issue. Whether people have been dating for two weeks or two years, this is the largest group experiencing intimate partner violence,” says Sgt. Nick Smyth, who heads Saskatchewan RCMP’s Interpersonal Violence Outreach unit.
2024 Saskatchewan RCMP data shows that individuals in dating relationships were more often victims of IPV, making up 60% of reported victims last year. When combined with those who experienced violence from an ex-boyfriend/girlfriend, violence by a current or former dating partner totaled 81% of IPV victims across RCMP jurisdiction. This compares to 16% of victims who reported violence in a spousal relationship, and 2% from an ex-spouse.
This is not a new trend. Saskatchewan RCMP crime statistics that show dating violence represents an average 58% of all IPV victims for each of the past five years and consistently surpasses the spousal violence average of 18% from 2020 to 2024. Violence by an ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend over the past five years accounts for an average of 20% of all IPV victims, while violence by a former spouse made up an average of 2% of IPV victims across Saskatchewan RCMP jurisdiction from 2020 to 2024.
86% of IPV victims report physical assault
Incidents of assault topped Saskatchewan RCMP reported intimate partner violence crime types in 2024, with 86% of victims reporting that they had been assaulted. The next most common IPV crime types in 2024 were criminal harassment and uttering threats which made up 7%, followed by sexual assaults and other sexual offences which made up 5%.
About 5% of victims reported being criminally harassed and 4% reported they were verbally threatened. These trends are consistent with RCMP statistics over the past five years where assault is the most common IPV offence.
Breach of privacy can also be an IPV crime. In 2024, Saskatchewan RCMP officers responded to 53 victims of non-consensual distribution of intimate images crimes involving current or former intimate partners. This number is up 60% from 2023, when RCMP officers investigated reports from 33 victims. According to 2024 Saskatchewan RCMP data, 91% of IPV victims of this crime reported being in a current or former dating relationship with the perpetrator.
In total, Saskatchewan RCMP received 211 reports of this IPV offence type over a five-year period, and 266 since it became a Criminal Code offence in 2018.
If you or someone you know is experiencing dating violence, call 310-RCMP to report it to police or contact Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or www.saskcrimestoppers.com to share information anonymously. In an emergency, always call 911.