Photo: Velatrix · CC0Per resident, Waskaganish records more crime than 80% of Canadian towns
Graded on crime the police covering Waskaganish reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores C− for safety: #487 of 503 in Quebec. Violence and property crime split as 34.8 violent incidents and 20.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical town its size. Weighted by seriousness, its crime scores 103.6 on the index for 2023–2025, beside 68.5 for the typical Canadian town its size.
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. The crime severity, crime rate and incident counts numbers here cover the Eeyou Eenou Cree Region service area.
What stands out about safety in Waskaganish
Assault: high for a town its size
Waskaganish records 20.6 incidents of assault per 1,000 residents a year, against 6.7 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. By type ↓
More severe than in 2023
Waskaganish’s index went from 35 in 2023 to 145.4 in 2025; the typical Canadian town its size moved from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
Higher than most of Quebec
Set among Quebec’s towns, whose median is 56.1, Waskaganish scores 103.6. Towns its size ↓
Violence weighs more than the rest
Violent crime scores 197.1 on Waskaganish’s index against 85.7 for the typical Canadian town its size; non-violent crime, 67.1 against 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.
The grade: C− for Waskaganish
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: #487 of 503 in Quebec and #1,949 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
From 2023 to 2025, Waskaganish’s index climbed 316%
Crime Severity Index
It closed on its heaviest year, 2025, at 145.4; the lightest was 2023, at 35. In the same years the typical Canadian town its size read 74.3 (2023), then 64.2 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Waskaganish | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 145.4 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 130.4 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 35 | 74.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Waskaganish, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Which crimes make up Waskaganish’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Waskaganish runs highest on assault (20.6 per 1,000 against 6.7), mischief (11.7 per 1,000 against 4.9) and break and enter (4.5 per 1,000 against 2.8).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 1.3 | 0.07 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 8 | 0.4 | 34% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 37 | 1.9 | 43% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Robbery | 1 | 0.05 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 2 | 0.1 | — |
| Other violent violations | 5.7 | 0.3 | 0% |
| Breaking and entering | 86.3 | 4.5 | 23% |
| Possession of stolen property | 0 | 0 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 31.7 | 1.6 | 15% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 9 | 0.5 | 14% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 20 | 1 | 7% |
| Mischief | 224.7 | 11.7 | 14% |
| Weapons violations | 9.7 | 0.5 | 75% |
| Administration of justice violations | 114 | 5.9 | 34% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 44.3 | 2.3 | 35% |
| Drug violations | 27.3 | 1.4 | 40% |
| Impaired driving | 80 | 4.2 | 51% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 12 | 0.6 | 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 to 10,000 people.
Waskaganish comes 31st of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saint-Bernard Quebec | 2,680 | 37.7 | 68.7 | A |
| 2 | Saint-Charles-de-Bellechasse Quebec | 2,739 | 39.7 | 73 | A |
| 3 | Eastman Quebec | 2,706 | 39.9 | 58.3 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 8 | Maria Quebec | 2,770 | 47.7 | 75.4 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 28 | Holyrood Newfoundland and Labrador | 2,749 | 90.3 | 68.4 | C |
| 29 | Highlands British Columbia | 2,753 | 92.7 | 168.2 | C |
| 30 | Bouctouche New Brunswick | 2,678 | 102 | 100.1 | C− |
| 31 | Waskaganish Quebec | 2,726 | 103.6 | 197.1 | C− |
| 32 | Wakefield New Brunswick | 2,749 | 109.1 | 122.4 | C− |
| 33 | Sundre Alberta | 2,683 | 115.4 | 138.1 | C− |
| 34 | Tofino British Columbia | 2,772 | 117.4 | 205.8 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Kuujjuaq Quebec | 2,766 | 805.8 | 2,056.5 | D− |
The 40 Canadian towns of 2,500+ people closest in population; city neighbourhoods, city totals and reserves are left out. Towns on one police service or detachment share its index.
The Canadian towns closest to Waskaganish in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
About 670 violent incidents a year across the police area of 19,400 residents that includes Waskaganish, 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 400 a year and other violations 320 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What clearance means. 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.
- An index, not a verdict. 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.”
- A wider service area. Waskaganish is policed by a service that covers other municipalities too, and Statistics Canada reports the service as a whole.
- The index’s scale. Its scale starts from Canada in 2006, set at 100, so a figure above 100 means more serious crime per resident than the country had then.
Questions about safety in Waskaganish
Is Waskaganish safe?
Statistics Canada puts Waskaganish at 103.6 on its Crime Severity Index over 2023–2025; Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people sit at 68.5 in the middle. Violent incidents run at 34.8 and property crimes at 20.6 per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Waskaganish?
Most often it is assault: 20.6 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come mischief at 11.7 and other Criminal Code offences at 10.
Is crime going up in Waskaganish?
Up 316%: 35 in 2023, 145.4 in 2025.
How much of Waskaganish’s crime do police solve?
36%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town its size manages 34%. Violent crime is cleared at 41% and non-violent crime at 26%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Waskaganish and other places, so the figures are shared.
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).