The Most Dangerous Cities in Canada in 2020

Canada isn't typically known for being a country filled with danger. On the contrary, it's often regarded as being one of the safest in the world.

But even the safest countries come with their own share of crime and here in Canada, some areas are definitely more dangerous than others.

The annual ranking published by news magazine Maclean's included 237 cities in Canada. In the top 10 were British Columbia's Quesnel, Terrace and Williams Lake.

The list was based on the Crime Severity Index, a Statistics Canada-fuelled measure of all reported crimes weighted by volume and seriousness. The ranking released last year was based on the most recently released data set, which looks at rates from 2018.

The list also measures out the crime rate for specific infractions, from homicide, theft, drug offences, and crimes committed by youth. The chart also tells you if a community's CSI score has improved or worsened from the previous year.

According to Maclean's, Thompson, a town with a population of 14,146, has a CSI score of 570. By comparison, the national average is 82.44.

The report revealed that British Columbia and Manitoba are home to three of the top 10 most dangerous places in the country, followed by Saskatchewan with two, and Alberta and Ontario with one.

When looking at the weighted list for all crime, the top 10 in Canada were:

1. Thompson, MB
2. Battleford, SK
3. Portage la Prairie, MB
4. Prince Albert, SK
5. Quesnel, B.C
6. Wetaskiwin, AB
7. Selkirk, MB
8. Terrace, B.C
9. Williams Lake, B.C
10. Timmins, ON

Though Quesnel only had one homicide last year, the Cariboo Region city with a population of about 23,000 ranked high based on a rate calculated by population (9.72 per 100,000, versus the Canadian average of 1.76).

As for Canada's larger cities, Edmonton landed in the 25th spot, with a CSI score of 129, while Toronto trailed shortly behind in the 39th spot and a CSI score of 66. Both cities saw their crime rate rise from the previous year.

The 2018 data, the most current available, was released July 23, 2019

You can see the full chart, including how the rest of the cities fared here »