Photo: Gaétan Veillette · CC BY-SA 4.0Saint-Damase sees less crime per resident than two in three Canadian towns
One of the 3 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. Add to that, on crime the police covering Saint-Damase reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades B+ for safety. Behind the grade sit 9.7 violent incidents and 14.0 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+. Its violent half comes to 70.8 and its non-violent half to 41.7, where the norm is 86.4 and 62.8.
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 published for the Maskoutains MRC, not by town.
What stands out about safety in Saint-Damase
More crime solved
The weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solve, is 49% for Saint-Damase (67% violent, 38% non-violent), beside 34% for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. Questions ↓
Close to Quebec’s typical town
Within Quebec, the median town comes to 56.1 on the index, against 49.7 in Saint-Damase. 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.
Inside Saint-Damase’s B+ for safety
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 Saint-Damase, type by type
Assault and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.3 | 0.00 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 52.7 | 0.6 | 61% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 21.3 | 0.2 | 95% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 5.3 | 0.06 | 51% |
| Robbery | 18 | 0.2 | 65% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 10.7 | 0.1 | 100% |
| Other violent violations | 20.3 | 0.2 | 85% |
| Breaking and entering | 171.7 | 1.8 | 28% |
| Possession of stolen property | 20.7 | 0.2 | 79% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 125.7 | 1.3 | 14% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 41.7 | 0.4 | 17% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 403 | 4.3 | 36% |
| Mischief | 165.7 | 1.8 | 27% |
| Weapons violations | 15.7 | 0.2 | 83% |
| Administration of justice violations | 181 | 1.9 | 95% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 30.7 | 0.3 | 79% |
| Drug violations | 84.7 | 0.9 | 75% |
| Impaired driving | 135 | 1.4 | 99% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 216.3 | 2.3 | 11% |
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.
Around 910 violent incidents a year in the 94,500-resident police area around Saint-Damase, 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 1,310 property crimes and 730 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Saint-Damase’s index fell 5% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
It rose to 54.6 in 2024 before easing, with the low of 45.9 in 2025. For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 2023 gave 70.6 and 2025 gave 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Saint-Damase | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 45.9 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 54.6 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 48.6 | 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 Saint-Damase, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Saint-Damase
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Damase | 2,390 | 49.7 | 70.8 | B+ |
| Saint-Pie | 6,085 | 49.7 | 70.8 | B+ |
| Sainte-Marie-Madeleine | 2,940 | 49.7 | 70.8 | B+ |
| Rougemont | 2,832 | 55 | 88.5 | B |
| Saint-Jean-Baptiste | 3,332 | 37.1 | 58.5 | A |
| Sainte-Madeleine | 2,387 | 49.7 | 70.8 | B+ |
| Saint-Césaire | 6,150 | 55 | 88.5 | B |
1 of the 3 neighbours with their own figures score lower than Saint-Damase. Closest is Saint-Jean-Baptiste, 9.4 km away, at 37.1 to 49.7 here. 3 neighbours report through the same police, so their figure is this one and they aren’t compared.
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. The Sûreté du Québec’s figures are for its MRC as a whole, not for Saint-Damase alone.
- 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. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
Questions about safety in Saint-Damase
Is Saint-Damase safe?
On Statistics Canada’s figures, Saint-Damase scores 49.7 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, with 9.7 violent and 14 property incidents 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 Saint-Damase?
Assault is the most common, at 4.5 per 1,000 residents a year, then theft under $5,000 (4.3) and Criminal Code traffic offences (4.1).
Is crime going up in Saint-Damase?
No: the index fell 5%, from 48.6 in 2023 to 45.9 in 2025.
How much of Saint-Damase’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 67% of violent crime and 38% of everything else, 49% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Saint-Damase together with its neighbours or the countryside around it.
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).