Photo: George Back · Public domainRecorded crime per resident is higher in Île-à-la-Crosse than in 98% of Canadian towns
On crime the police covering Île-à-la-Crosse reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades D− for safety. Its violent half comes to 552.5 and its non-violent half to 325.2, where the norm is 86.4 and 62.8. The local count comes to 81.2 violent incidents and 150.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, 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. Data for crime severity, crime rate and incident counts covers the Île-à-la-Crosse detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Île-à-la-Crosse
Mischief: high for a town its size
Île-à-la-Crosse records 95.2 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.2 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. By type ↓
Over the Saskatchewan norm
Set among Saskatchewan’s towns, whose median is 118.6, Île-à-la-Crosse scores 387.8. Towns its size ↓
A high clearance rate
Weighted by seriousness, 51% of crime in Île-à-la-Crosse ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 58% of violent crime and 45% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the figure is 34%. Questions ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: D− for Île-à-la-Crosse
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.
Which crimes make up Île-à-la-Crosse’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Île-à-la-Crosse runs highest on mischief (95.2 per 1,000 against 4.2), drug offences (5.6 per 1,000 against 0.7) and assault (44.5 per 1,000 against 6.7).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1.3 | 0.9 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 4.3 | 2.9 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 5 | 3.4 | 40% |
| Robbery | 5 | 3.4 | 74% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1 | 0.7 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 15.3 | 10.4 | 28% |
| Possession of stolen property | 2.3 | 1.6 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 10.7 | 7.2 | 35% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 0.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 33.3 | 22.5 | 48% |
| Mischief | 141 | 95.2 | 30% |
| Weapons violations | 6.3 | 4.3 | 84% |
| Administration of justice violations | 97.7 | 65.9 | 89% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 9 | 6.1 | 70% |
| Drug violations | 8.3 | 5.6 | 48% |
| Impaired driving | 30.3 | 20.5 | 46% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.3 | 0.2 | — |
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 120 violent incidents a year in the 1,480-resident police area around Île-à-la-Crosse, 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 220 a year and other violations 210 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Île-à-la-Crosse’s index, one year at a time
Crime Severity Index
Its most recent year, 2025, was also its heaviest (441); the lightest was 2023 (307.4). Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ moved from 70.6 to 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Île-à-la-Crosse | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 441 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 415 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 307.4 | 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 Île-à-la-Crosse, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Île-à-la-Crosse
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Île-à-la-Crosse | 1,484 | 387.8 | 552.5 | D− |
| Buffalo Narrows (58 km) | 1,064 | 892.7 | 1,165.3 | D− |
| Pinehouse (84 km) | 1,064 | 750 | 888.6 | D− |
| Beaver River No. 622 (147 km) | 1,442 | 436.9 | 721.7 | D− |
| La Loche (149 km) | 3,124 | 1,107 | 1,524.7 | D− |
| Meadow Lake (152 km) | 5,667 | 335.8 | 395.4 | D− |
Île-à-la-Crosse sits above 1 of the 5 neighbours with figures of their own. The nearest of them, Meadow Lake (151.8 km away), scores 335.8 against 387.8.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. No closer places have figures: these lie 58–152 km from Île-à-la-Crosse.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Small numbers. With roughly 1,484 residents in its police area, a few cases swing the figures. In Statistics Canada’s words, “Data for police services or detachments with populations less than 5,000 should be used with caution.”
- A detachment’s area. An RCMP or OPP detachment reports one set of figures for everywhere it polices, so Île-à-la-Crosse’s are shared with its surroundings.
- 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. The clearance rate is the share of incidents police solve, by a charge or otherwise, weighted by seriousness like the index. It isn’t a conviction rate.
- What the index measures. 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.”
Questions about safety in Île-à-la-Crosse
Is Île-à-la-Crosse safe?
With 81.2 violent incidents and 150.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, Île-à-la-Crosse comes to 387.8 on the Crime Severity Index (2023–2025); Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more have a median of 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Île-à-la-Crosse?
Other Criminal Code offences is the most common, at 100.6 per 1,000 residents a year, then mischief (95.2) and assault (44.5).
Is crime going up in Île-à-la-Crosse?
Over 2023–2025 the index climbed 43%, to 441 from 307.4. The police area is small or partly reported, so treat the change with care.
How much of Île-à-la-Crosse’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 51%: 58% for violent crime and 45% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ it is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Île-à-la-Crosse 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).