Photo: Squirrelwhisperer · CC BY-SA 4.0Cardinal sees less crime per resident than 67% of Canadian towns
It grades B+ for safety on crime the police covering Cardinal reported from 2023 to 2025: #283 of 862 in Ontario. Add to that, typical years here bring 7.9 violent incidents plus 15.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 12.9 plus 31.2 in the typical town its size. A Crime Severity Index of 51.4, the 2023–2025 mean, compares with 68.5 for the typical Canadian town its size. Of the 3 towns on its borders with figures, 2 record less crime per resident.
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. Area behind the crime severity, crime rate and incident counts figures: the Grenville County (Edwardsburgh/Cardinal) detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Cardinal
Easing since 2023
Between 2023 and 2025, Cardinal moved from 66.4 to 40.4, while the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
Police clear more here
The weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solve, is 52% for Cardinal (78% violent, 34% non-violent), beside 34% for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Questions ↓
In the middle of towns its size
Set among the 40 Canadian towns closest to it in population, Cardinal comes 23rd, counting from the lowest Crime Severity Index. Towns its size ↓
About the Ontario norm
The typical Ontario town scores 56.2; Cardinal, 51.4. 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 Cardinal’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: #283 of 862 in Ontario and #547 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.
From 2023 to 2025, Cardinal’s index dropped 39%
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 66.4; the lightest was 2025, at 40.4. In the same years the typical Canadian town its size read 74.3 (2023), then 64.2 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Cardinal | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 40.4 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 47.4 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 66.4 | 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 Cardinal, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in Cardinal, type by type
Mischief and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.3 | 0.04 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 2 | 0.3 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 11.3 | 1.4 | 29% |
| Possession of stolen property | 6 | 0.8 | 95% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 12.3 | 1.6 | 22% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 7 | 0.9 | 0% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 24.3 | 3.1 | 19% |
| Mischief | 15.3 | 1.9 | 18% |
| Weapons violations | 3.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 14.7 | 1.8 | 66% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 6.3 | 0.8 | 37% |
| Drug violations | 4.7 | 0.6 | — |
| Impaired driving | 21 | 2.6 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 2 | 0.3 | — |
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.
Around 63 violent incidents a year in the 7,950-resident police area around Cardinal, 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 120 property crimes and 73 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Cardinal comes 23rd of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alnwick/Haldimand Ontario | 8,197 | 21.6 | 26.9 | A+ |
| 2 | Plattsville Ontario | 8,251 | 25.1 | 27.5 | A+ |
| 3 | Otonabee-South Monaghan Ontario | 8,084 | 26 | 27.2 | A+ |
| 4 | Whitewater Region Ontario | 7,899 | 29.1 | 36.6 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 20 | Cornwall Prince Edward Island | 7,920 | 46.9 | 58 | B+ |
| 21 | La Broquerie Manitoba | 7,808 | 48.1 | 54.1 | B+ |
| 22 | Electoral Area B (Lazo North), Comox Valley British Columbia | 7,830 | 49.5 | 61.5 | B+ |
| 23 | Cardinal Ontario | 7,952 | 51.4 | 74.1 | B+ |
| 24 | Argyle Nova Scotia | 8,216 | 52.1 | 68.3 | B+ |
| 25 | St. Marys Ontario | 8,203 | 52.5 | 75.2 | B+ |
| 26 | Acton Vale Quebec | 7,945 | 54.1 | 86 | B |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Happy Valley-Goose Bay Newfoundland and Labrador | 8,197 | 360 | 345 | 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 Cardinal in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Crime in the places around Cardinal
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinal | 7,952 | 51.4 | 74.1 | B+ |
| Prescott | 4,342 | 111.5 | 167.1 | C− |
| Morrisburg | 11,943 | 36.9 | 47.2 | A |
| Augusta | 7,767 | 34 | 40.2 | A |
2 of the 3 neighbours with their own figures score lower than Cardinal. Just 17.5 km away, Morrisburg comes to 36.9, against 51.4.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Severity, weighed. Statistics Canada builds the index from every crime police record, weighted by how seriously the courts treat it, and divides by the population. It adds a warning of its own: “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 Cardinal is one part.
- What 100 means. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
- The clearance rate. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
Questions about safety in Cardinal
Is Cardinal safe?
On Statistics Canada’s figures, Cardinal scores 51.4 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, with 7.9 violent and 15.7 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year. In the middle of Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people the figure is 68.5.
What is the most common crime in Cardinal?
Police record fraud most, 5.6 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of Criminal Code traffic offences (4.4) and other Criminal Code offences (3.9).
Is crime going up in Cardinal?
No: the index fell 39%, from 66.4 in 2023 to 40.4 in 2025.
How much of Cardinal’s crime do police solve?
About 52% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 78% of violent and 34% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town its size is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Cardinal 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).