Photo: K Danko · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Northern Bruce Peninsula records less crime than 96% of Canadian towns
Police clear 45% of crime, weighted by seriousness; the figure for the typical Canadian town its size is 34%. From 2023 to 2025, crime the police covering Northern Bruce Peninsula reported put it at A+ for safety: #74 of 862 in Ontario. Against usual levels of 85.7 and 62.8, violent and non-violent offences here reach 46.7 and 22.6. Its police logs show 7.0 violent incidents and 9.5 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the typical town its size the numbers are 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.
What stands out about safety in Northern Bruce Peninsula
Crime per resident, visitors uncounted
With 57% of its homes not lived in all year, Northern Bruce Peninsula counts its crime against a smaller year-round population than the one that is there in season. How to read it ↓
Under the Ontario norm
The typical Ontario town scores 56.2; Northern Bruce Peninsula, 29.3. Towns its size ↓
A lower index than most towns its size
Set among the 40 Canadian towns closest to it in population, Northern Bruce Peninsula comes 1st, counting from the lowest Crime Severity Index. Towns its size ↓
More severe than in 2023
In 2023 the index in Northern Bruce Peninsula stood at 26.1, by 2025 at 32.5. Over the same years the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 to 64.2. 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.
The grade: A+ for Northern Bruce Peninsula
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: #74 of 862 in Ontario and #94 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.
Which crimes make up Northern Bruce Peninsula’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Northern Bruce Peninsula runs highest on sexual assault (1.2 per 1,000 against 0.9). 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 | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 1.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.3 | 0.07 | — |
| Other violent violations | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 6.7 | 1.4 | 25% |
| Possession of stolen property | 0 | 0 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 0.3 | 0.07 | — |
| Theft over $5,000 | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 9 | 1.8 | 26% |
| Mischief | 11.7 | 2.4 | 15% |
| Weapons violations | 2 | 0.4 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 7 | 1.4 | 81% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Drug violations | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Impaired driving | 4 | 0.8 | — |
| 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 to 10,000 people.
Year by year in Northern Bruce Peninsula: up 24%, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
2025, the last year shown, came out highest at 32.5, and 2023 lowest at 26.1. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Northern Bruce Peninsula | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 32.5 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 29.3 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 26.1 | 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 Northern Bruce Peninsula, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Northern Bruce Peninsula comes 1st of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northern Bruce Peninsula Ontario | 5,018 | 29.3 | 46.7 | A+ |
| 2 | Roxton Pond Quebec | 4,884 | 45.3 | 73.7 | A− |
| 3 | Centre Hastings Ontario | 5,170 | 46.8 | 68 | B+ |
| 4 | Cumberland British Columbia | 4,974 | 49.5 | 61.5 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 13 | Hastings Highlands Ontario | 4,957 | 55.2 | 59.6 | B |
| … | |||||
| 25 | Hearst Ontario | 5,032 | 74.2 | 97.9 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 37 | Tyendinaga Ontario | 5,005 | 131.9 | 280.3 | D |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Nipawin Saskatchewan | 5,033 | 182.3 | 163.9 | 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 Northern Bruce Peninsula in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Northern Bruce Peninsula’s police: about 35 violent incidents a year over 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 47 a year and other violations 20 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Crime in the places around Northern Bruce Peninsula
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Bruce Peninsula | 5,018 | 29.3 | 46.7 | A+ |
| Wiarton (44 km) | 9,799 | 46 | 52.4 | A− |
| Georgian Bluffs (55 km) | 12,061 | 29.2 | 35.4 | A+ |
| Owen Sound (62 km) | 24,075 | 110 | 154.9 | C− |
| Port Elgin (64 km) | 18,167 | 50.1 | 68.5 | B+ |
| Meaford (74 km) | 12,652 | 42.7 | 45.3 | A− |
Northern Bruce Peninsula sits above 1 of the 5 neighbours with figures of their own. The nearest of them, Georgian Bluffs (55 km away), scores 29.2 against 29.3.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. The nearest places to Northern Bruce Peninsula with figures are 44–74 km away.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What the index measures. 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.”
- 100 is Canada in 2006. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
- Cleared, not convicted. 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 Northern Bruce Peninsula
Is Northern Bruce Peninsula safe?
Northern Bruce Peninsula measures 29.3 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, next to 68.5 for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Per 1,000 residents a year, its police record 7 violent incidents and 9.5 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Northern Bruce Peninsula?
Fraud is the most common, at 3.7 per 1,000 residents a year, then assault (3) and mischief (2.4).
Is crime going up in Northern Bruce Peninsula?
Up 24%: 26.1 in 2023, 32.5 in 2025.
How much of Northern Bruce Peninsula’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 45% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (34% for the typical Canadian town its size); split up, that is 76% of violent and 23% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
They are Northern Bruce Peninsula’s own: its police cover the town and no other.
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).