The Yukon gets a D grade when it comes to the homicide rate, but is a B performer in the burglary category.

That’s according to the How Canada Performs society report card, which rates the territories and provinces on a number of social outcomes.

When assessing the breakdown of community life, the report from the Conference Board of Canada used the average homicide and burglary rates from 2013 to 2015 as indicators.

It notes that the territories face disproportionately high levels of of these crimes compared to Southern Canada.

Between 2013 and 2015, the Yukon had between 212 and 300 burglaries for a rate of 652 burglaries per 100,000 population. That’s roughly 1.5 times higher than the Canadian average.

Over the same three-year span, the territory had an average homicide rate of 3.6 deaths. This was comparable to Manitoba, which had the highest rate among the provinces at 3.7. The national average rate was 1.5.

There were no murders in the Yukon between 2011 and 2013, three in 2014 and one in 2015.

But in the last 12 months, there have been an unprecedented number of homicides in the territory, with four in 2016 and five under investigation since April.

Not since 2004, when there were seven homicides, has the territory experienced unusually high numbers.

“We’re hoping this is really an aberration, not a trend we’re going to see continuing,” Whitehorse RCMP Sgt. Jane Boissonneault said in an interview this morning.

She noted the murders have impacted the entire territory, including RCMP officers who are working “flat-out” on the investigations.

“We continue to investigate those homicides and the work is continuing; there’s still a lot of work to be done,” she said.

She added that officers have been coming in on weekends and cancelling vacations to work on the high case load.

“I personally am very proud of that,” Boissonneault said.

They have been requesting assistance from other jurisdictions, including Manitoba and Ontario.

“Basically, we’re bringing in people from wherever we can,” she explained. he social outcome report also notes that the high homicide rates in the territories are reflective of the unique experiences faced by Canada’s Indigenous people.

In 2015, while representing only five per cent of the national population, Indigenous people accounted for 25 per cent of homicide victims in Canada.

That same year, the homicide rate for Indigenous men was 12.9 murders per 100,000 population and 4.8 for Indigenous women. Four of the five homicide victims in the Yukon this year are Indigenous.

Dan Cable, a spokesperson for the Yukon Department of Justice, spoke to the Star about the social outcomes report. He said the number of actual robberies and homicides in the territory are so low, they are not predictive.

Rates of violent crime like assault and sexual assault, or mischief, which makes up the majority of property crime, “by a country mile”, would be more appropriate for a predictive social outcome, he argued.

“Homicides are big headlines, but from a statistical perspective, they are just one part of a larger puzzle,” he noted.

New data from Statistics Canada show that last year, there were 1,555 violent Criminal Code violations in the Yukon for a rate of 4,150 per 100,000 population. That is more than four times the national rate.

There were also:

• 75 police-reported sexual assaults in the territory for a rate of 200 – more than three times the national rate;

• 1,019 assaults for a rate of 2,718 compared to a rate of 607 across Canada; and

• 1,867 mischief incidents for a rate of 4,980 compared to Canada’s rate of 717.

Cable said many property crimes like burglary and mischief are driven by such factors as addictions, mental health and poverty.

“There are multi-factored social issues that have to be addressed,” he said.

“The criminal justice system can incarcerate individuals, but if you have an alcohol problem, you need to have a broader strategy.”

He highlighted last fall’s opening of the new Sarah Steele Building, which houses treatment programs, and the Yukon government’s commitment to employ more mental health and addictions workers in communities outside Whitehorse.

And, on an encouraging note, the Conference Board of report shows that the suicide rate in the territory dropped by 17 per cent from 2000 to 2012.

Between 2013 and 2015, there were four to seven suicides in the territory for an average rate of 13.9 deaths per 100,000 population, compared to the national average rate of 11.