Crime and Safety

Taken as a group, the 20% of neighbourhoods that are the least socio-economically advantaged (SES 5) have more than three times the rate of violent crime and  50% more property crime compared to the 20% that are the most socio-economically advantaged (SES  1). Interestingly, however, it is not the most socio-economically advantaged neighbourhoods (SES 1) that experience the lowest rates of crime, but rather the neighbourhoods in the second SES quintile.

Socio-economic Status (SES) is a rating calculated by the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study for each neighbourhood in Ottawa, based on a range of factors including income, employment and education levels. The crime rate is based on police-reported Criminal Code incidents.

Rates of violent crime were trending downwards for most of the past decade in all of Canada’s six largest cities, however they have been creeping up again in recent years.

Ottawa has had the lowest rate of violent crime among Canada’s six largest cities over the past decade. In addition, among Canada’s 33 Census Metropolitan areas, Ottawa has one of the lowest “Crime Severity Index” (CSI) values. The CSI is a measure of both the volume and seriousness of police-reported crime.

Among Canada’s six largest cities, Ottawa has consistently had the second lowest rate of reported break and enter (B&E) crimes, after Toronto, except for 2014 when Ottawa had the lowest rate. B&E violations in all six cities have trended fairly consistently downwards over the past ten years, however, many of the major cities are seeing a marginal increase over the past few years.

Drug offences are violations against the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. They include importation, exportation, trafficking as well as the production and possession of controlled narcotics and other drugs such as cannabis, crystal meth, LSD and ecstasy. Drug offences can be linked to other types of criminal activity including organized crime, gang-related crime and theft.

For the past decade, Ottawa has consistently had one of the lowest numbers of police-reported drug offences among Canada’s six largest cities. Drug violations over the past decade have declined in four of Canada’s six largest cities.

Hate crimes are criminal offences motivated by hatred towards an identifiable group. In order of frequency in Canada, hate crimes target race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and “other” (including sex, mental or physical ability or political beliefs). Black people are the most frequently targeted racial group, though the number of police-reported hate crimes targeting Muslim-Canadians has been growing.

Ottawa consistently had the highest rate of hate crimes compared to the five other largest Canadian cities in each year from 2012 to 2018. However, the rate has stayed below the 2012 peak in each of the following 6 years.

It is important to note that differing practices in police reporting of hate crimes may account for some of the differences between cities. In fact, based on findings from the General Social Survey, a significant proportion of hate crimes are not even reported to the police.