Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Messines has more crime per resident than 74% of Canadian towns
Against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8, violent and non-violent offences here reach 152.3 and 66.7. Behind the grade sit 27.4 violent incidents and 20.8 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Add to that, that puts it at C for safety, judged on crime the police covering Messines reported from 2023 to 2025. By 2025 the index had dropped to 83.8, down from 95.6 in 2023.
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. Data for crime severity, crime rate and incident counts covers the Vallée-de-la-Gatineau MRC.
What stands out about safety in Messines
Assault: high for a town its size
Messines records 15.9 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 ↓
Police clear more here
The weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solve, is 59% for Messines (75% violent, 45% non-violent), beside 34% for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. Questions ↓
Heavier than Quebec’s middle
Messines’s index of 90.6 compares with 56.1 for the typical town in Quebec. Towns its size ↓
Heavier on violence
Messines scores 152.3 for violence and 66.7 for other crime; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ scores 86.4 and 62.8. By type ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Messines: C for safety, and why
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.
Crime in Messines, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Messines runs highest on assault (15.9 per 1,000 against 6.7), break and enter (4.3 per 1,000 against 2.5) and mischief (4.8 per 1,000 against 4.2). Fraud and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 14.7 | 0.7 | 70% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 16.7 | 0.8 | 88% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 5 | 0.2 | 100% |
| Robbery | 3 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 4.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 11.7 | 0.6 | 74% |
| Breaking and entering | 88.3 | 4.3 | 29% |
| Possession of stolen property | 11 | 0.5 | 55% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 45.7 | 2.2 | 26% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 13.3 | 0.7 | 17% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 83.3 | 4.1 | 36% |
| Mischief | 98 | 4.8 | 46% |
| Weapons violations | 15.3 | 0.8 | 80% |
| Administration of justice violations | 112 | 5.5 | 95% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 15 | 0.7 | 87% |
| Drug violations | 41.3 | 2 | 83% |
| Impaired driving | 46.3 | 2.3 | 99% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 22.3 | 1.1 | 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.
Messines, year by year
Crime Severity Index
2023 opened the run as its heaviest year (95.6); 2025 was the lightest, at 83.8. For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 2023 gave 70.6 and 2025 gave 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Messines | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 83.8 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 92.5 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 95.6 | 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 Messines, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
The police area Messines is part of, 20,600 residents, recorded about 560 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 420 a year and other violations 280 (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 Messines
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Messines | 1,691 | 90.6 | 152.3 | C |
| Kitigan Zibi | 1,261 | 188.2 | 388.1 | D |
| Maniwaki | 3,803 | 90.6 | 152.3 | C |
| Déléage | 2,047 | 90.6 | 152.3 | C |
| Gracefield | 2,544 | 90.6 | 152.3 | C |
3 neighbours are on the same police service or detachment: they share the figure and aren’t compared here.
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.”
- Policed as an MRC. Where the Sûreté du Québec polices, Statistics Canada publishes one figure per MRC; Messines shares it with its neighbours.
- The index’s scale. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
- What clearance means. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
Questions about safety in Messines
Is Messines safe?
Police-reported crime in Messines scores 90.6 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), with 27.4 violent incidents and 20.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year. For Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more, the typical index is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Messines?
Police record assault most, 15.9 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of other Criminal Code offences (7.3) and mischief (4.8).
Is crime going up in Messines?
It went down 12% between 2023 and 2025, from 95.6 to 83.8.
How much of Messines’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 59%: 75% for violent crime and 45% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ it is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Messines 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).