Photo: Miguel Tremblay · CC0Fewer crimes per resident are recorded in Rivière-Ouelle than in 82% of Canadian towns
From 2023 to 2025 its Crime Severity Index stayed steady, 42.1 then 40.2. Its violent half comes to 72 and its non-violent half to 31, where the norm is 86.4 and 62.8. Measured on crime the police covering Rivière-Ouelle reported between 2023 and 2025, it earns a Safety Grade of A−. Year on year, 11.1 violent incidents and 9.8 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 12.0 and 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. Crime severity, crime rate and incident counts: one figure for all of the Kamouraska MRC.
What stands out about safety in Rivière-Ouelle
Police clear more here
Weighted by seriousness, 58% of crime in Rivière-Ouelle ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 71% of violent crime and 46% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the figure is 34%. Questions ↓
The violent half stands out
Violent crime scores 72 on Rivière-Ouelle’s index against 86.4 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+; non-violent crime, 31 against 62.8. By type ↓
Lower than most of Quebec
Rivière-Ouelle’s index of 42.5 compares with 56.1 for the typical town in Quebec. 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.
The grade: A− for Rivière-Ouelle
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.
21,500 residents, about 240 violent incidents a year: the police area Rivière-Ouelle 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.
Add about 210 property crimes and 160 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Rivière-Ouelle, year by year
Crime Severity Index
2024 stands out as the heaviest year at 45.1, with 2025 the lightest at 40.2. For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 2023 gave 70.6 and 2025 gave 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Rivière-Ouelle | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 40.2 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 45.1 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 42.1 | 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 Rivière-Ouelle, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Which crimes make up Rivière-Ouelle’s figures
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 12.7 | 0.6 | 57% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 5.7 | 0.3 | 93% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1.7 | 0.08 | — |
| Robbery | 1.3 | 0.06 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 5 | 0.2 | 86% |
| Other violent violations | 6.3 | 0.3 | 84% |
| Breaking and entering | 32 | 1.5 | 41% |
| Possession of stolen property | 4 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 13.7 | 0.6 | 42% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 1.3 | 0.06 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 49 | 2.3 | 43% |
| Mischief | 42 | 2 | 32% |
| Weapons violations | 11.7 | 0.5 | 79% |
| Administration of justice violations | 43.7 | 2 | 89% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 5.7 | 0.3 | 88% |
| Drug violations | 16.3 | 0.8 | 72% |
| Impaired driving | 38.7 | 1.8 | 99% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 27 | 1.3 | 22% |
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.
Crime in the places around Rivière-Ouelle
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rivière-Ouelle | 1,014 | 42.5 | 72 | A− |
| Saint-Pacôme | 1,540 | 42.5 | 72 | A− |
| La Pocatière | 4,206 | 42.5 | 72 | A− |
| Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière | 1,635 | 42.5 | 72 | A− |
| Mont-Carmel | 1,191 | 42.5 | 72 | A− |
| Saint-Pascal | 3,516 | 42.5 | 72 | A− |
Its police also cover 5 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
- 100 is Canada in 2006. Canada’s own index has been below its 2006 base of 100 for years, so 100 marks a fixed reference, not today’s national average.
- Cleared, not convicted. Police clear an incident by charging someone, recommending a charge, or closing it another way. The rate weighs serious crimes more, as the index does.
- What the index measures. Statistics Canada, which publishes the index, attaches a caution: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.” The number weighs each reported crime by its seriousness before dividing by residents.
- Shared across the MRC. Where the Sûreté du Québec polices, Statistics Canada publishes one figure per MRC; Rivière-Ouelle shares it with its neighbours.
Questions about safety in Rivière-Ouelle
Is Rivière-Ouelle safe?
The short answer is an index of 42.5 for Rivière-Ouelle (2023–2025), built from 11.1 violent incidents and 9.8 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. In the middle of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the figure is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Rivière-Ouelle?
Assault is the most common, at 4.8 per 1,000 residents a year, then Criminal Code traffic offences (3.7) and fraud (3).
Is crime going up in Rivière-Ouelle?
It held about level between 2023 and 2025, 42.1 to 40.2.
How much of Rivière-Ouelle’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 58%: 71% for violent crime and 46% 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 Rivière-Ouelle 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).