Photo: Conrad Poirier · Public domainKahnawake has less crime per resident than 67% of Canadian towns
The yearly rates were 14.9 violent incidents and 12.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size. Still, its Safety Grade is B+, on crime the police covering Kahnawake reported from 2023 to 2025. Statistics Canada puts its Crime Severity Index at 50.1 for 2023–2025; the typical Canadian town its size scores 66. One of the 6 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident.
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 Kahnawake
More crime solved
Police cleared 126% of Kahnawake’s crime, weighted by seriousness (117% of violent crime, 135% of the rest), against 33% across Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Questions ↓
Heavier on violence
Set beside the typical Canadian town its size, Kahnawake’s two halves part ways: 83.4 for violence (typical 89.4) and 37.2 for the rest (typical 56). By type ↓
Much like Quebec’s towns
The typical Quebec town scores 56.1; Kahnawake, 50.1. Towns its size ↓
More severe than in 2023
Kahnawake’s index went from 42.2 in 2023 to 61.1 in 2025; the typical Canadian town its size moved from 69.5 to 60. 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.
What sits behind Kahnawake’s B+
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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Kahnawake’s index rose 45% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Of the years charted, 2025 weighed most (61.1) and 2023 least (42.2). In the same years the typical Canadian town its size read 69.5 (2023), then 60 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Kahnawake | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 61.1 | 60 |
| 2024 | 46.9 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 42.2 | 69.5 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Kahnawake, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Kahnawake’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Kahnawake runs highest on drug offences (1 per 1,000 against 0.8) 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 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 7.3 | 0.7 | 4% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 3.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.7 | 0.06 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0 | 0 | — |
| Other violent violations | 0.7 | 0.06 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 12.7 | 1.1 | 100% |
| Possession of stolen property | 2 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 12.7 | 1.1 | 97% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 5 | 0.4 | 66% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 33.7 | 3 | 100% |
| Mischief | 25 | 2.2 | 100% |
| Weapons violations | 2.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 11.3 | 1 | 100% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 11.3 | 1 | 100% |
| Drug violations | 11.7 | 1 | 100% |
| Impaired driving | 85.3 | 7.6 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 10 | 0.9 | 100% |
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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Around 170 violent incidents a year on Kahnawake’s police records (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 140 a year and other violations 160 (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 Kahnawake
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kahnawake | 11,142 | 50.1 | 83.4 | B+ |
| Châteauguay | 53,508 | 50.6 | 85.7 | B+ |
| Vieux-Lachine - Saint-Pierre | 31,113 | 80.3 | 115.7 | C |
| Cecil-P.-Newman | 34,965 | 80.3 | 115.7 | C |
| Lachine-Ouest | 15,315 | 80.3 | 115.7 | C |
| Sault-Saint-Louis | 47,270 | 80.3 | 115.7 | C |
| Montréal-Ouest | 5,197 | 80.3 | 115.7 | C |
The places around Kahnawake all score higher on the index.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- An index, not a verdict. 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.”
- The index’s scale. 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.
- What clearance means. A cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
Questions about safety in Kahnawake
Is Kahnawake safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 50.1 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 66 for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: that is where Kahnawake stands, with 14.9 violent and 12.2 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Kahnawake?
Most often it is Criminal Code traffic offences: 9.5 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come assault at 7.1 and fraud at 4.
Is crime going up in Kahnawake?
Up 45%: 42.2 in 2023, 61.1 in 2025.
How much of Kahnawake’s crime do police solve?
126%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town its size manages 33%. Violent crime is cleared at 117% and non-violent crime at 135%.
Whose figures are these?
They are Kahnawake’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).