Statistics Canada released its annual crime severity index in late July and the crime rate for each the country's provinces and territories.
The latest data, based on incidents from 2023, do not paint a pretty picture of the situation in the NWT.
Crime severity indexes (CSI) are based on Criminal Code incidents, including traffic offences, as well as other federal statute violations. The base CSI for the whole of Canada was set at 100 in the year 2006, and as of 2023, it was sitting at 80.5.
In terms of the provinces and territories, the NWT had the highest CSI in the country, at 473.7, which marks a 50 per cent increase in the 10 years since 2013. Nunavut had the next closest CSI at 429.1, while Yukon's CSI was sitting at 218.8. The lowest CSIs in the country were in Ontario (60.9), Quebec (62.2), and Prince Edward Island (72.4).
"The greatest contributor to our CSI in general is the offence of mischief," said spokesperson Cst. Josh Seaward. "Nuisance offences, (mischief, causing a disturbance) accounted for 42 per cent of our CSI. If you incorporate the other non-violent offences, non-violent crime accounts for 61 per cent of the CSI in total. The remaining 39 per cent are violent crimes, which also includes drug trafficking. Notably this is actually the largest single contributor to that category.
"There has been an uptick in reports of nuisance offences as well as drug trafficking, which is driving the inflation of our CSI on the whole. In addition, a large number of these reports are proactive or self generated and may not be an accurate depiction of the overall actual incidents of drug trafficking."
Crime rates are based on the overall volume of Criminal Code incidents, but unlike CSIs, exclude traffic offences.
In 2023, the crime rate for the country was 5,843 per 100,000 people. In the NWT, the rate was a significantly higher: 54,974 SA国际影视传媒� a 21 per cent increase since 2013.
That gave the territory the second highest crime rate in the country behind Nunavut, where the rate stood at 56,416 in 2023. The Yukon's crime rate was 22,430. The lowest crime rates in the country were in Quebec (3,713), Ontario (4,454), and Nova Scotia (5,933).
