Photo: Gaetan Veillette · CC BY-SA 4.0La Cité sits near the middle of Canadian towns for recorded crime
The yearly rates were 14.9 violent incidents and 20.9 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 10.8 and 25.1 in the typical Canadian town of 50,000+. La Cité grades B− for safety overall (#326 of 503 in Quebec): close to the middle of Canadian towns, on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Violence accounts for an index of 100.1 and other offences for 55, against usual levels of 75.2 and 54.2. Its weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solved, is 45% (the typical Canadian town of 50,000+: 38%).
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. Crime severity and crime rate for the Gatineau service area.
What’s behind La Cité’s grade
How sure: Not as firm as most grades, since the figure covers the entire city rather than La Cité alone.
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: #326 of 503 in Quebec and #1,304 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
Crime across Gatineau, by type
These are Gatineau’s figures, for its police’s whole area: they aren’t published by neighbourhood.
Against the typical town its size, Gatineau runs highest on drug offences (1.5 per 1,000 against 0.9), assault (7.4 per 1,000 against 4.9) and sexual assault (1 per 1,000 against 0.8). Motor vehicle theft and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 2.7 | 0.01 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 159 | 0.5 | 55% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 139 | 0.5 | 99% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 42.7 | 0.1 | 63% |
| Robbery | 112.7 | 0.4 | 62% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 62.7 | 0.2 | 89% |
| Other violent violations | 127.3 | 0.4 | 65% |
| Breaking and entering | 692 | 2.3 | 28% |
| Possession of stolen property | 62.3 | 0.2 | 70% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 368.3 | 1.2 | 22% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 134.3 | 0.4 | 19% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 2,314 | 7.7 | 29% |
| Mischief | 940 | 3.1 | 18% |
| Weapons violations | 46 | 0.2 | 85% |
| Administration of justice violations | 1,147.3 | 3.8 | 96% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 229.3 | 0.8 | 69% |
| Drug violations | 439.3 | 1.5 | 87% |
| Impaired driving | 329 | 1.1 | 99% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1,110.7 | 3.7 | 15% |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment: incidents a year are its own, the town’s share is only estimated in the tiles. 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 50,000 people or more.
Year by year in La Cité: steady, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
From 67.8 in 2023, its first and heaviest year, it eased to a low of 67.1 in 2025. The typical Canadian town of 50,000+ went from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | La Cité | Typical town of 50,000+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 67.1 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 67.5 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 67.8 | 64.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering La Cité, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Crime in the places around La Cité
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Cité | 30,930 | 67.5 | 100.1 | B− |
| Rivière-Gatineau | 14,875 | 67.5 | 100.1 | B− |
| Les Rapides | 15,090 | 67.5 | 100.1 | B− |
| Du Moulin | 30,364 | 67.5 | 100.1 | B− |
| Manor Park | 9,491 | 54.7 | 66 | A |
| New Edinburgh | 5,728 | 54.7 | 66 | C+ |
| Des Vallées | 3,575 | 67.5 | 100.1 | B− |
The places around La Cité all score lower on the index. The nearest of them, Manor Park (5.3 km away), scores 54.7 against 67.5. Its police also cover 4 neighbouring places, which carry the same index and are left out above.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Not the neighbourhood’s own. No open data breaks the city’s crime down by neighbourhood, so La Cité carries the city-wide figures.
- 100 is Canada in 2006. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
- Cleared, not convicted. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
- What the index measures. The Crime Severity Index adds up police-reported crime, each kind weighted by the sentences courts give it, so one robbery counts for more than many thefts. In Statistics Canada’s words, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in La Cité
Is La Cité safe?
La Cité scores 67.5 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), where the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more is 60.3; per 1,000 residents a year that is 14.9 violent incidents and 20.9 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in La Cité?
The three biggest groups are theft under $5,000 at 7.7, assault at 7.4 and fraud at 5.7, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in La Cité?
Barely: 67.8 in 2023, 67.1 in 2025.
How much of La Cité’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 45%: 61% for violent crime and 33% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ it is 38%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police service that covers the whole city.
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).