A city in Alberta leads the pack when it comes to property crime rates among the largest urban areas in Canada, according to a new study from Fraser Institute.
The report looked at the maximum annual property crime rate for the 2019 to 2022 period, the most recent years available, for Canada’s select census metropolitan areas (CMA’s), with the range going from a high of 5,521 per 100,000 to a low of 925 per 100,000, with an average 2,513 per 100,000.
The southern Alberta city of Lethbridge had the highest rate of property crime nationwide at 5,521 crimes per 100,000, which is more than twice the national average for urban areas.
Neighbouring Kelowna, British Columbia, came in second place when it comes to the rate of property crime at 4,932 per 100,000, Regina landed in third at 4,496 per 100,000, and Winnipeg in fourth at 4,075 per 100,000.
Fraser Institute
“Crime rates in Canadian cities, while still historically low, are on the rise and should be of greater concern for both citizens and policymakers,” said Livio Di Matteo, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and author of the study.
Lethbridge also had Alberta’s highest rate of violent crimes — which includes murder, robbery, and assault with a weapon — with a rate of 402 per 100,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index (CSI) measures changes in the level of severity of crime in Canada from year to year. In the index, all crimes are assigned a weight based on their seriousness. The level of seriousness is based on actual sentences handed down by the courts in all provinces and territories. More serious crimes are assigned higher weights, and less serious offences are assigned lower weights. As a result, more serious offences have a greater impact on changes in the index.