Photo: Fralambert · CC BY-SA 3.0Haut-Madawaska sees less crime per resident than 91% of Canadian towns
Its violent half comes to 44.6 and its non-violent half to 33.3, where the norm is 85.7 and 62.8. About 28% of crime here is cleared by police, set against 34% for the typical Canadian town its size. Even so, on crime the police covering Haut-Madawaska reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades A for safety: #7 of 59 in New Brunswick. In a usual year, 9.3 violent incidents and 13.7 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the typical town its size, 12.9 and 31.2.
Statistics Canada, police-reported crime, 2023–2025 means. The index weighs each crime by its seriousness; rates are incidents per 1,000 residents a year. Not measured by town: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts (the Clair detachment area).
What stands out about safety in Haut-Madawaska
Lighter than New Brunswick’s middle
Within New Brunswick, the median town comes to 72.8 on the index, against 36.3 in Haut-Madawaska. Towns its size ↓
Down since 2023
Between 2023 and 2025, Haut-Madawaska moved from 40.2 to 27.7, while the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
A lower index than most towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Haut-Madawaska stands 6th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Haut-Madawaska’s grade
The grade weighs the Crime Severity Index and its violent half, averaged over 2023–2025, against every Canadian town and city neighbourhood of 1,000 people or more.
Its place: #7 of 59 in New Brunswick and #192 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
In Haut-Madawaska, down 31% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 41.1; 2025 was the lightest, at 27.7. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town its size, runs from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Haut-Madawaska | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 27.7 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 41.1 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 40.2 | 74.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Haut-Madawaska, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Haut-Madawaska’s crime by kind
Assault and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 3.7 | 0.6 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 9.3 | 1.4 | 22% |
| Possession of stolen property | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 4 | 0.6 | — |
| Theft over $5,000 | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 10 | 1.5 | 10% |
| Mischief | 28.3 | 4.3 | 10% |
| Weapons violations | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 8 | 1.2 | 29% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 5 | 0.8 | 6% |
| Drug violations | 4 | 0.6 | — |
| Impaired driving | 6.3 | 1 | 63% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment, incidents a year its own. Cleared: incidents solved by a charge or otherwise, as a share of those reported.
Incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 means, against the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
By its index, Haut-Madawaska stands 6th of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lac-Etchemin Quebec | 4,089 | 30.8 | 48.9 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 3 | Lake of Bays Ontario | 4,105 | 32.8 | 34.7 | A |
| 4 | Morris-Turnberry Ontario | 4,028 | 35 | 39.3 | A |
| 5 | Electoral Area F, Central Kootenay British Columbia | 4,209 | 35.8 | 32 | A |
| 6 | Haut-Madawaska New Brunswick | 4,098 | 36.3 | 44.6 | A |
| 7 | Barry's Bay Ontario | 4,151 | 41.5 | 77.6 | A− |
| 8 | La Pocatière Quebec | 4,206 | 42.5 | 72 | A− |
| 9 | L'Ange-Gardien Quebec | 4,106 | 42.7 | 62.9 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Swan River Manitoba | 4,048 | 435.7 | 403.3 | D− |
The 40 Canadian towns of 2,500+ people closest in population; city neighbourhoods, city totals and reserves are left out. Towns on one police service or detachment share its index.
The Canadian towns closest to Haut-Madawaska in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
6,610 residents, about 60 violent incidents a year: the police area Haut-Madawaska belongs to, 2023–2025
Violent incidents per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Property crimes per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Statistics Canada counts actual incidents; those police record as unfounded are listed apart and kept out of its crime rates and severity index. Each incident is filed under its most serious violation, which the survey sets partly by the maximum penalty.
Add about 89 property crimes and 30 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Crime in the places around Haut-Madawaska
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haut-Madawaska | 4,098 | 36.3 | 44.6 | A |
| Edmundston (24 km) | 18,174 | 85 | 102.4 | C |
| Saint-Jacques (27 km) | 1,763 | 36.3 | 44.6 | A |
| Saint-Joseph (30 km) | 1,641 | 36.3 | 44.6 | A |
Same police, same number: 2 neighbours drop out of the comparison for that reason.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. No closer places have figures: these lie 24–30 km from Haut-Madawaska.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The clearance rate. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
- Severity, weighed. One robbery outweighs a run of minor thefts here, since every crime counts by the sentences courts give it. Statistics Canada adds: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- A wider policing area. The detachment counts crime across its whole territory, of which Haut-Madawaska is one part.
- What 100 means. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
Questions about safety in Haut-Madawaska
Is Haut-Madawaska safe?
Statistics Canada puts Haut-Madawaska at 36.3 on its Crime Severity Index over 2023–2025; Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people sit at 68.5 in the middle. Violent incidents run at 9.3 and property crimes at 13.7 per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Haut-Madawaska?
The three biggest groups are fraud at 5, mischief at 4.3 and assault at 3.2, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Haut-Madawaska?
The reverse: 40.2 in 2023 came down to 27.7 by 2025, 31% lower.
How much of Haut-Madawaska’s crime do police solve?
28%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town its size manages 34%. Violent crime is cleared at 53% and non-violent crime at 13%.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Haut-Madawaska and everywhere else it polices.
Source: Statistics Canada, police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025 (Statistics Canada Open Licence); TownRatings calculation.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, police services (tables 35-10-0186 to 0190, 0061, 0063, 0064), 2023–2025 · Statistics Canada, Incident-based crime statistics by detailed violations, police services (35-10-0178 to 0185) · Safety Grade: TownRatings calculation. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).