In return to an oral question asked by Mr. Erasmus on February 12, 1998 on teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease rates, there is no ongoing surveillance of sexual activity in the Northwest Territories, however, some statistics are available from the study done by Education, Culture and Employment in 1993 entitled, "Health Behaviours, Attitudes and Knowledge of Young People in the NWT".
This study reports that by age 14, 27 percent of boys and 30 percent of girls, reported having intercourse at least once. However, we do not know how the situation has changed since then.
Fertility rates of teenagers can provide an indirect means of estimating sexual activity levels. Fertility rates for NWT teenagers are somewhat higher than in the rest of Canada.
Statistics on sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are another source of information, although information is not available by age group. The 1997 Review of Gonococcal and Chlamydia Infections in the NWT, published in EpiNorth, shows that the numbers of STD cases reported are not decreasing.
In cases of gonorrhea, numbers decreased sharply in the early 1990s, but the last four years have shown no further gains. In 1997, numbers have increased slightly in both Nunavut and the western Northwest Territories.
For chlamydia infections, numbers have remained stubbornly high throughout this past decade. Reports of chlamydia infections totalled 1,047 in 1997, a 16.5 percent increase over the previous year. However, the number of reports decreased slightly in the west, but increased by 37 percent in Nunavut.
This increase can be explained by the introduction of a new and better way of testing for STDs at the Baffin Regional Hospital Laboratory in January of 1997. The Keewatin region also began using the Baffin lab in April. As more cases get treated, you would expect a decrease in the frequency of new reports in subsequent years.
Having higher rates of STDs does not necessarily mean that our young people are more sexually active. Our reporting system is among the best in Canada. We must also think that a number of young people are forced into sexual relationships against their will. In the 1993 an Education, Culture and Employment survey mentioned earlier, 5 percent of the grade 9 to 10 boys and 21 percent of the girls also reported having been forced into sexual intercourse; this can serve as a reminder that this issue goes much beyond teaching kids about healthy sexuality. In that context, providing knowledge on safe sex and making condoms available is not sufficient.