Photo: Vintotal · CC BY-SA 3.0More crimes per resident are recorded in Chapais than in 88% of Canadian towns
Violence accounts for an index of 264.7 and other offences for 75.5, against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8. By 2025 the index had climbed to 143.3, up from 113.6 in 2023. Its Safety Grade is D, on crime the police covering Chapais reported from 2023 to 2025. Typical years here bring 41.5 violent incidents plus 23.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 12.0 plus 31.2 in 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. The crime severity, crime rate and incident counts numbers here cover the area the Sûreté du Québec’s Chapais-Chibougamau unit covers.
What stands out about safety in Chapais
Assault: high for a town its size
Chapais records 24.2 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 ↓
Heavier on violence
Set beside the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, Chapais’s two halves part ways: 264.7 for violence (typical 86.4) and 75.5 for the rest (typical 62.8). By type ↓
Above Quebec’s typical town
Chapais’s index of 128.7 compares with 56.1 for the typical town in Quebec. Towns its size ↓
More crime solved
Police cleared 64% of Chapais’s crime, weighted by seriousness (68% of violent crime, 58% of the rest), against 34% across Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. Questions ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: D for Chapais
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.
Chapais’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Chapais runs highest on assault (24.2 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 | 0.7 | 0.08 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 11 | 1.3 | 36% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 23.3 | 2.7 | 99% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Robbery | 4 | 0.5 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 4.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Other violent violations | 4.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 29.7 | 3.4 | 44% |
| Possession of stolen property | 3 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 17.7 | 2 | 40% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 3 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 75 | 8.6 | 60% |
| Mischief | 26.7 | 3.1 | 64% |
| Weapons violations | 8.3 | 1 | 100% |
| Administration of justice violations | 89.7 | 10.3 | 91% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 10.7 | 1.2 | 78% |
| Drug violations | 22.3 | 2.6 | 73% |
| Impaired driving | 31.7 | 3.6 | 91% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 15.7 | 1.8 | 21% |
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.
Chapais, year by year
Crime Severity Index
It finished on its highest reading, 143.3 in 2025, having been lowest in 2023 at 113.6. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, runs from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Chapais | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 143.3 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 129.3 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 113.6 | 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 Chapais, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
8,670 residents, about 360 violent incidents a year: the police area Chapais belongs to, 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 200 a year and other violations 190 (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 Chapais
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chapais | 1,392 | 128.7 | 264.7 | D |
| Chibougamau (38 km) | 7,273 | 128.7 | 264.7 | D |
| Eeyou Istchee Baie-James (57 km) | 1,225 | 166.4 | 274.8 | D |
| Waswanipi (81 km) | 1,866 | 103.6 | 197.1 | C− |
| Mistissini (100 km) | 4,067 | 103.6 | 197.1 | C− |
Nearby, 2 of 3 places with their own figures have a lower index than Chapais. Waswanipi, 81.2 km away, is the nearest lower one, at 103.6 to 128.7. Its police also cover one neighbouring place, which carries the same index and is left out above.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Chapais has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 38–100 km out.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- How serious, not how safe. Each incident counts by its seriousness, judged from court sentences, and the total is set per resident. As Statistics Canada puts it, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- The whole MRC. The Sûreté du Québec reports by MRC, so the figures cover every municipality it polices there, Chapais among them.
- Reading the number. The index is scaled so that Canada as a whole scored 100 in its base year, 2006: a town at 50 has half that severity per resident.
- Solved cases. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
Questions about safety in Chapais
Is Chapais safe?
Chapais’s Crime Severity Index is 128.7 (2023–2025 mean); its police record 41.5 violent incidents and 23.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year. Set that beside 67.2, the median for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
What is the most common crime in Chapais?
Police record assault most, 24.2 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of other Criminal Code offences (13.2) and theft under $5,000 (8.6).
Is crime going up in Chapais?
Up 26%: 113.6 in 2023, 143.3 in 2025.
How much of Chapais’s crime do police solve?
64%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ manages 34%. Violent crime is cleared at 68% and non-violent crime at 58%.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Chapais 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).