Yellowknife, N.W.T. -New numbers released this week by Statistics Canada show family violence rates in the Northwest Territories are much higher then the national average.

The stats show that in 2010 there were 294 reported cases of family violence per 100 thousand people in Canada.

In the NWT that number was more then 8 times larger with over 24 hundred cases per 100 thousand people.

Community activist Arlene Hache said the territory has generally only tied "band aid" solutions to the issue.

"I don't know when decision makers in the North will decide that band aids aren't good enough and that you really have to bite the bullet and make a huge investment in arresting the damage that's been done through colonization and residential school," she said.

Hache noted that it is significant that these stats only take into account reported cases.

“Largely in the Northwest Territories, in my experience which is thirty years worth of community work, evidence would say that it generally goes unreported so those stats are very small," said Hache.

The NWT's rate of domestic violence is the second highest in Canada behind Nunavut.

CJCD Mix 100 News