Photo: sfbnurse https://www.flickr.com/people/sfbnurse/ · CC BY 2.0Few Canadian towns record more crime per resident than Fort Simpson
It grades D− for safety on crime the police covering Fort Simpson reported from 2023 to 2025. Its weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solved, is 28% (the typical Canadian town of 2,500+: 34%). Against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8, violent and non-violent offences here reach 525.4 and 490.8. Police counts work out at 136.6 violent incidents and 254.5 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ they are 12.0 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. Crime severity, crime rate and incident counts: one figure for all of the Fort Simpson detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Fort Simpson
Mischief: high for a town its size
Fort Simpson records 213.8 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.2 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. By type ↓
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 Fort Simpson’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.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
Crime in Fort Simpson, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Fort Simpson runs highest on mischief (213.8 per 1,000 against 4.2), drug offences (31.4 per 1,000 against 0.7) and assault (97.1 per 1,000 against 6.7).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 3 | 2 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 2 | 1.3 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0 | 0 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1.3 | 0.9 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 13 | 8.8 | 33% |
| Possession of stolen property | 1.3 | 0.9 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 6 | 4.1 | 33% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 1.3 | 0.9 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 28.3 | 19.2 | 12% |
| Mischief | 315.7 | 213.8 | 23% |
| Weapons violations | 3 | 2 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 39 | 26.4 | 57% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 10.7 | 7.2 | 19% |
| Drug violations | 46.3 | 31.4 | 10% |
| Impaired driving | 47 | 31.8 | 26% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0 | 0 | — |
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 people or more.
About 200 violent incidents a year across the police area of 1,510 residents that includes Fort Simpson, 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.
Property crime adds about 380 a year and other violations 260 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Fort Simpson’s index, one year at a time
Crime Severity Index
Its index has not been as high since 2023 (610.9); the low point came in 2025, at 394.4. In the same years the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ read 70.6 (2023), then 62.9 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Fort Simpson | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 394.4 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 487.7 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 610.9 | 70.6 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Fort Simpson, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- A small police area. About 1,508 people live in the area these figures cover; at that size one bad year shows up large. Statistics Canada says: “Data for police services or detachments with populations less than 5,000 should be used with caution.”
- Town and surroundings together. Detachment figures cover the detachment’s whole area: Fort Simpson together with the countryside and smaller places it polices.
- Reading the number. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
- Solved cases. A cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
- How serious, not how safe. Police-reported incidents, each multiplied by a weight drawn from court sentences, summed and divided by the population: that is the index, and its makers attach a caution, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Fort Simpson
Is Fort Simpson safe?
Averaged over 2023–2025, the Crime Severity Index for Fort Simpson comes to 497.7. Per 1,000 residents a year, police logged 136.6 violent incidents and 254.5 property crimes. Across Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more, the median is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Fort Simpson?
Most often it is mischief: 213.8 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come other Criminal Code offences at 111.7 and assault at 97.1.
Is crime going up in Fort Simpson?
It went down 35% between 2023 and 2025, from 610.9 to 394.4. A small or partial count makes this change uncertain.
How much of Fort Simpson’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 28% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+); split up, that is 51% of violent and 19% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Fort Simpson and other places, so the figures are shared.
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).