Photo: P199 · Public domainFor recorded crime, Papineau-Cameron sits in the middle of Canadian towns
The index that weighs each crime by its seriousness comes to 63.1 here (2023–2025 mean), and to 67.2 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Papineau-Cameron’s overall Safety Grade is B−: close to the middle of Canadian towns, on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. What’s more, for every 1,000 residents, 10.2 violent incidents and 13.2 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, the figures 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. Shared with the rest of the North Bay detachment area: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in Papineau-Cameron
More severe than in 2023
Between 2023 and 2025, Papineau-Cameron moved from 37.9 to 99.7, while the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 to 62.9. Year by year ↓
Above-typical clearance
For Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the typical clearance rate is 34%; Papineau-Cameron’s police clear 53%, 67% of violent crime and 44% of the rest. Questions ↓
Heavier on violence
Papineau-Cameron’s index splits into violent crime, 107.2 here and 86.4 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, and everything else, 46 against 62.8. By type ↓
Much like Ontario’s towns
Papineau-Cameron’s index of 63.1 compares with 56.2 for the typical town in Ontario. 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.
The B− for Papineau-Cameron, and how it is built
How sure: Less sure than most: the grade leans on the closest detachment, 58 km from Papineau-Cameron, since none reports under the town’s name.
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.
In Papineau-Cameron, up 163% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
The latest year was its heaviest: 2025, at 99.7, with 2023 the lightest at 37.9. For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 2023 gave 70.6 and 2025 gave 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Papineau-Cameron | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 99.7 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 51.8 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 37.9 | 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 Papineau-Cameron, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
What police record in Papineau-Cameron, by type
Assault sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.7 | 0.10 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 3.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Other violent violations | 2.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 10.3 | 1.5 | 7% |
| Possession of stolen property | 2.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 7.7 | 1.1 | 39% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 2.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 15.3 | 2.3 | 13% |
| Mischief | 15 | 2.2 | 22% |
| Weapons violations | 6.7 | 1 | 100% |
| Administration of justice violations | 23.3 | 3.4 | 86% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 4.7 | 0.7 | — |
| Drug violations | 8 | 1.2 | 88% |
| Impaired driving | 44.3 | 6.5 | 99% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
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.
The detachment nearest Papineau-Cameron, 6,910 residents: around 69 violent incidents a year, 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 90 a year and other violations 110 (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 Papineau-Cameron
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Papineau-Cameron | 1,136 | 63.1 | 107.2 | B− |
| Mattawa (4 km) | 2,193 | 81.5 | 146.1 | C |
| Bonfield (36 km) | 2,597 | 24.3 | 39.2 | A+ |
| East Ferris (46 km) | 5,835 | 17.7 | 27.2 | A+ |
| Chisholm (46 km) | 1,593 | 63.1 | 107.2 | B− |
Of 3 places nearby with their own figures, 2 come in under Papineau-Cameron. Just 35.9 km away, Bonfield comes to 24.3, against 63.1. A neighbour policed by the same service carries the same figure, so it isn’t set against it.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. No closer places have figures: these lie 4–46 km from Papineau-Cameron.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The clearance rate. Police clear an incident by charging someone, recommending a charge, or closing it another way. The rate weighs serious crimes more, as the index does.
- 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.”
- What 100 means. Canada’s own index has been below its 2006 base of 100 for years, so 100 marks a fixed reference, not today’s national average.
Questions about safety in Papineau-Cameron
Is Papineau-Cameron safe?
Papineau-Cameron scores 63.1 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), where the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2; per 1,000 residents a year that is 10.2 violent incidents and 13.2 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Papineau-Cameron?
Police record Criminal Code traffic offences most, 9 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of other Criminal Code offences (5.6) and fraud (5.3).
Is crime going up in Papineau-Cameron?
Yes: the index rose 163%, from 37.9 in 2023 to 99.7 in 2025.
How much of Papineau-Cameron’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 53% of crime (67% of violent crime, 44% of the rest). The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ clears 34%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Papineau-Cameron 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).