Photo: Froliking on the Iceshield · CC BY 2.0More crimes per resident are recorded in Blanc-Sablon than in 72% of Canadian towns
Annual rates stand at 36.2 violent incidents and 14.3 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Statistics Canada puts its Crime Severity Index at 86.8 for 2023–2025; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ scores 67.2. What’s more, it grades C for safety on crime the police covering Blanc-Sablon reported from 2023 to 2025.
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-wide: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts, counted over the Golfe du Saint-Laurent MRC.
What stands out about safety in Blanc-Sablon
Assault: high for a town its size
Blanc-Sablon records 22.4 incidents of assault per 1,000 residents a year, against 6.7 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. By type ↓
Violent crime leads the index
Set beside the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, Blanc-Sablon’s two halves part ways: 171.4 for violence (typical 86.4) and 53.7 for the rest (typical 62.8). By type ↓
More crime solved
Police cleared 53% of Blanc-Sablon’s crime, weighted by seriousness (65% of violent crime, 40% of the rest), against 34% across Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. Questions ↓
Over the Quebec norm
Set among Quebec’s towns, whose median is 56.1, Blanc-Sablon scores 86.8. 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 Blanc-Sablon’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.
Blanc-Sablon’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Blanc-Sablon runs highest on assault (22.4 per 1,000 against 6.7) and mischief (7.4 per 1,000 against 4.2).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 3 | 0.7 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 4.7 | 1.1 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Robbery | 0.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.3 | 0.08 | — |
| Other violent violations | 7 | 1.6 | 43% |
| Breaking and entering | 9 | 2 | 30% |
| Possession of stolen property | 0 | 0 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 1.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Theft over $5,000 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 8 | 1.8 | 41% |
| Mischief | 32.7 | 7.4 | 46% |
| Weapons violations | 2 | 0.5 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 25.7 | 5.8 | 88% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 3.7 | 0.8 | — |
| Drug violations | 10.3 | 2.4 | 39% |
| Impaired driving | 9.3 | 2.1 | 75% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 8.7 | 2 | 31% |
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 police area Blanc-Sablon is part of, 4,360 residents, recorded about 160 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 63 a year and other violations 65 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
The index in Blanc-Sablon, each year
Crime Severity Index
It closed on its heaviest year, 2025, at 104.2; the lightest was 2023, at 56.4. 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 | Blanc-Sablon | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 104.2 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 99.8 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 56.4 | 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 Blanc-Sablon, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Blanc-Sablon
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blanc-Sablon | 1,090 | 86.8 | 171.4 | C |
| Division No. 9, Subdivision C (37 km) | 2,137 | 18 | 29.3 | A+ |
| St. Anthony (110 km) | 2,203 | 56 | 61.8 | B |
Every neighbour with a figure of its own has a lower index than Blanc-Sablon. Closest is Division No. 9, Subdivision C, 36.7 km away, at 18 to 86.8 here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Distances here run 37–110 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Blanc-Sablon.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What clearance means. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
- An index, not a verdict. One robbery outweighs a run of minor thefts here, since every crime counts by the sentences courts give it. Statistics Canada adds: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- A small police area. The police behind these figures serve about 4,362 people, so a handful of incidents moves every rate. Statistics Canada’s note: “Data for police services or detachments with populations less than 5,000 should be used with caution.”
- Policed as an MRC. The Sûreté du Québec reports by MRC, so the figures cover every municipality it polices there, Blanc-Sablon among them.
- The index’s scale. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
Questions about safety in Blanc-Sablon
Is Blanc-Sablon safe?
Blanc-Sablon measures 86.8 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, next to 67.2 for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. Per 1,000 residents a year, its police record 36.2 violent incidents and 14.3 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Blanc-Sablon?
Top of the list is assault (22.4 per 1,000 residents a year); other Criminal Code offences, at 7.6, and mischief, at 7.4, follow.
Is crime going up in Blanc-Sablon?
Up 85%: 56.4 in 2023, 104.2 in 2025. The police area is small or partly reported, so treat the change with care.
How much of Blanc-Sablon’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 53% of crime (65% of violent crime, 40% of the rest). The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ clears 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Blanc-Sablon and everywhere else it polices.
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).