Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Crime per resident in Central Manitoulin runs higher than in 69% of Canadian towns
Across Ontario’s towns, the middle index is 56.2. Graded on crime the police covering Central Manitoulin reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores C for safety. Police counts work out at 18.6 violent incidents and 19.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ they are 12.0 and 31.2. On top of that, its Crime Severity Index averaged 81.9 over 2023–2025, against 67.2 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
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. Measured across the Little Current (Manitoulin) detachment area: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in Central Manitoulin
Crime per resident, visitors uncounted
About 35% of Central Manitoulin’s homes are cottages, second homes or otherwise empty much of the year: crime in the busy months is divided by year-round residents only, which lifts every rate here. How to read it ↓
Drug offences: high for a town its size
Central Manitoulin records 4.5 incidents of drug offences per 1,000 residents a year, against 0.7 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. By type ↓
Police clear more here
For Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the typical clearance rate is 34%; Central Manitoulin’s police clear 63%, 80% of violent crime and 53% of the rest. Questions ↓
Rising since 2023
Central Manitoulin’s index went from 69.5 in 2023 to 84.7 in 2025; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ moved from 70.6 to 62.9. Year by year ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Central Manitoulin’s C
How sure: Not as firm as most grades. Its figures come from the nearest detachment, 34 km off, which covers its own area rather than Central Manitoulin.
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.
What police record in Central Manitoulin, by type
Against the typical town its size, Central Manitoulin runs highest on drug offences (4.5 per 1,000 against 0.7) and assault (8.6 per 1,000 against 6.7). Theft under $5,000 sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 3.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 8.3 | 0.6 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 3.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 5.7 | 0.4 | 70% |
| Breaking and entering | 35.7 | 2.5 | 30% |
| Possession of stolen property | 5.3 | 0.4 | 94% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 16.3 | 1.1 | 51% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 7.7 | 0.5 | 30% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 78 | 5.4 | 21% |
| Mischief | 62.3 | 4.3 | 30% |
| Weapons violations | 19.3 | 1.3 | 76% |
| Administration of justice violations | 114.3 | 7.8 | 84% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 14.3 | 1 | 58% |
| Drug violations | 65.3 | 4.5 | 89% |
| Impaired driving | 81.7 | 5.6 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 2 | 0.1 | — |
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.
In Central Manitoulin, up 22% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its index peaked in 2024 at 91.6, between two lighter years; the lowest, 2023, came in at 69.5. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Central Manitoulin | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 84.7 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 91.6 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 69.5 | 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 Central Manitoulin, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Around 270 violent incidents a year at the detachment nearest Central Manitoulin (14,700 residents), 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.
And about 290 property crimes, plus 350 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Crime in the places around Central Manitoulin
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Manitoulin | 2,386 | 81.9 | 109 | C |
| Assiginack (29 km) | 1,137 | 81.9 | 109 | C |
| Little Current (34 km) | 2,764 | 81.9 | 109 | C |
| Wikwemikong Unceded (37 km) | 2,875 | 583.1 | 762.6 | D− |
2 neighbours are on the same police service or detachment: they share the figure and aren’t compared here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Central Manitoulin has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 29–37 km out.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- An index, not a verdict. The index weighs crimes rather than counting them: a serious offence moves it far more than a minor one. Statistics Canada is plain about its limits: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- The index’s scale. Its scale starts from Canada in 2006, set at 100, so a figure above 100 means more serious crime per resident than the country had then.
- What clearance means. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
Questions about safety in Central Manitoulin
Is Central Manitoulin safe?
Its police recorded 18.6 violent incidents and 19.7 property crimes a year per 1,000 residents over 2023–2025, which gives Central Manitoulin a Crime Severity Index of 81.9. The middle of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Central Manitoulin?
Police record other Criminal Code offences most, 10.7 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of assault (8.6) and Criminal Code traffic offences (8.5).
Is crime going up in Central Manitoulin?
Up 22%: 69.5 in 2023, 84.7 in 2025.
How much of Central Manitoulin’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 80% of violent crime and 53% of everything else, 63% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Central Manitoulin together with its neighbours or the countryside around it.
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).