The Crime Severity Index (CSI) is up 5% in the country in 2021, mainly due to Quebec, due to the increase in homicides, sexual assaults and harassing behavior.

This was revealed by Statistics Canada on Tuesday. This crime severity index was almost unchanged since 2006.

“Quebec (5%) and Ontario (1%) recorded an increase in the CSI in 2021, making them the provinces that had the greatest upward impact on the change in the national CSI , said Statistics Canada. This increase in Canada's two largest provinces stems from relatively large increases in level 1 sexual assaults, as well as increases in general fraud in Quebec and increases in homicides in Ontario.

Police-reported hate crimes in Canada increased by 27% to 3,360 incidents.

During the period from April 2020 to March 2021, the opioid crisis grew by 96% compared to the previous year, resulting in 7,362 deaths.

The increase in the CSI in Canada is mainly due to the 18% increase in the level 1 sexual assault rate. This type of report represents 98% of reports of this type.

Since 1996, the police have never reported as many sexual assaults as in 2021. A total of 34,242 sexual assaults were reported, which represents a rate of 90 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

With 27,055 reports, criminal harassment cases have experienced a significant increase of 10% in Canada. The number of homicides for the year 2021 is 788, which represents an increase of 29 cases.

“Indigenous people are overrepresented”

"Aboriginal people are overrepresented among victims of violence in the country," said Statistics Canada.

The number of Aboriginal homicide victims is 190, with 65% associated with First Nations. This still represents a decrease of 18 homicides compared to the year 2020.