THE volume and severity of police-reported crime in Canada, as measured by the Crime Severity Index (CSI), increased for the third consecutive year—up 2% in 2023—an upward trend that began in 2015. Relatively large shifts in certain types of crime led to an increase in the Non-violent CSI, while the Violent CSI remained virtually unchanged, according to Statistics Canada.
The Non-violent CSI—which includes, for example, property offences and drug offences—rose 3% in 2023, following a 5% increase in 2022. A significant contributor to the 2023 increase was a higher rate of police-reported child pornography (+52%).
Increased reporting of child pornography was partially the result of more cases—current and historical—being forwarded to local police services by specialized provincial Internet child exploitation police units and the National Child Exploitation Crime Centre.
Other types of non-violent crime also increased in 2023, including fraud (+12%), shoplifting ($5,000 or under; +18%), and motor vehicle theft (+5%). In contrast, breaking and entering dropped 5% from 2022, continuing a general downward trend in this crime since the 1990s.
The Violent CSI remained virtually unchanged (+0.4%) in 2023, following a 13% cumulative increase over the previous two years. Compared with 2022, the Violent CSI recorded lower rates of homicide (-14%) and sexual violations against children (-10%) in 2023. The Violent CSI also recorded higher rates of extortion (+35%), robbery (+4%) and assault committed with a weapon or causing bodily harm (+7%).
The CSI is one of several measures of crime in Canada. It looks at both the volume and the severity of crime, while the conventional crime rate measures only the volume of crime. In 2023, the police-reported crime rate increased 3% from a year earlier to 5,843 incidents per 100,000 population. While the Violent CSI was essentially unchanged in 2023 primarily because of a decline in lower-volume but more serious crimes—such as homicide—there was a 4% increase in the rate, or total volume, of violent crime, including higher rates of crimes such as assault, robbery and extortion.
CHILD PORNOGRPAHY
The rate of police-reported child pornography (also sometimes referred to as child sexual exploitation or abuse material) increased 52% in 2023 to 53 incidents per 100,000 population. This increase was the largest contributor to the change in the overall CSI in 2023. Child pornography offences accounted for approximately 5% of the overall CSI value. The year-over-year increase was reflective of a general upward trend since 2008.
There were 21,417 incidents of child pornography reported by police in 2023. Making or distributing child pornography accounted for over three-quarters (76%) of child pornography incidents, while the remaining 24% of such incidents were possessing or accessing child pornography.
Notably, 79% of the increase in child pornography in 2023 was reported in British Columbia, and another 14% was reported in Alberta. Among the provinces, Manitoba reported a decrease.
The increase in child pornography in 2023 was partially the result of more cases—current and historical—being forwarded to local police services due to increased public awareness about the topic and partnerships related to combatting and investigating child sexual exploitation and abuse on the Internet. These cases are subsequently reported as police-reported data.
Relatively high proportions of child pornography and sexual violations against children included a cyber component. For instance, 79% of incidents of child pornography and 20% of sexual violations against children were recorded by police as cybercrimes. In 2023, nearly all (97%) of the increase in child pornography incidents involved those with a cybercrime component.
FRAUD AND EXTORTION
Fraud—referring here to general fraud and excluding fraud with a specific identity information component (namely, identity theft and identity fraud)—was the second-highest contributor to the change in the CSI in 2023. The 2023 rate of fraud was 12% higher than in 2022, while identity fraud (-6%) and identity theft (-24%) dropped.
Overall, the combined rate of all fraud types (including identity theft and identity fraud) accounted for 9% of the total value of the overall CSI in 2023, behind breaking and entering (15%). There were over 201,000 total incidents of all fraud types in 2023, up from about 91,400 in 2013, resulting in a near-doubling of the rate over the course of a decade (501 incidents per 100,000 population in 2023 versus 260 incidents per 100,000 population in 2013).
Extortion is a relatively serious violent crime that involves obtaining property through coercion and is often associated with fraud. The rate of police-reported extortion (+35% to 35 incidents per 100,000 population) increased for the fourth consecutive year in 2023, following similar increases in the previous three years.
Overall, the rate of extortion was five times higher in 2023 than in 2013, rising from 7 to 35 incidents per 100,000 population.
Almost one-quarter of incidents of all fraud types (24%) and almost half of incidents of extortion (49%) were reported as cybercrimes. Combined, these offences accounted for 60% of cybercrimes in 2023.
Despite the increases in fraud and extortion, many of these crimes go unreported to police. According to the 2019 General Social Survey on Canadians’ Safety, just over 1 in 10 victims of fraud (11%) reported the fraud they experienced in the five years preceding the survey to the police.
HATE CRIME
Hate crimes target the integral and visible parts of a person’s identity and may affect not only the individual but also the wider community.
The number of police-reported hate crimes increased from 3,612 incidents in 2022 to 4,777 in 2023 (+32%), even though some victims might not report a hate crime they experienced. This followed an 8% increase in 2022, and a 72% increase from 2019 to 2021. Overall, the number of police-reported hate crimes (+145%) has more than doubled since 2019.
Higher numbers of hate crimes targeting a religion (+67%; 1,284 incidents) or a sexual orientation (+69%; 860 incidents) accounted for most of the increase in 2023. Additionally, hate crimes targeting a race or an ethnicity were up 6%. Most of the violations typically associated with hate crimes increased, including public incitement of hatred (+65%), uttering threats (+53%), mischief (+34%) and assaults (+20%).
According to the 2019 General Social Survey on Canadians’ Safety (Victimization), Canadians self-reported being victims of over 223,000 criminal incidents that they perceived as being motivated by hate in the 12 months preceding the survey. Among these victims, approximately one in five incidents was reported to the police.
HOMICIDE
Police reported 778 homicides in 2023, 104 fewer than a year earlier. The homicide rate declined 14%, from 2.27 homicides per 100,000 population in 2022 to 1.94 in 2023. The homicide rate dropped below 2 homicides per 100,000 people for the first time since 2019.
The drop in homicides was the primary reason for the Violent CSI being lower than it otherwise would have been and accounted for half of its decreasing portion.
The national decrease in 2023 was largely the result of fewer homicides throughout much of the country, including British Columbia (-32 homicides), Ontario (-30 homicides), Manitoba (-15 homicides), Saskatchewan (-14 homicides), Quebec (-10 homicides), New Brunswick (-6 homicides), Nova Scotia (-5 homicides) and Alberta (-4 homicides).
However, in 2023, there were more homicides reported in Newfoundland and Labrador (+5 homicides), Prince Edward Island (+1 homicide) and in all three territories: Yukon (+2 homicides), the Northwest Territories (+3 homicides) and Nunavut (+1 homicide).
Detailed information on homicide counts, rates and victim characteristics can be found in the Police-reported Information Hub: Homicide in Canada, an interactive data visualization dashboard.
Police reported 193 Indigenous homicide victims in 2023, 35 fewer than in 2022. Almost three-quarters (73%) of Indigenous homicide victims were identified by police as First Nations people, while 3% were identified as Métis and 5% as Inuit. A specific Indigenous group (First Nations people, Métis and Inuit) was not identified by police for 20% of Indigenous homicide victims.
The homicide rate for Indigenous people was over six times higher than for the non-Indigenous population (9.31 versus 1.46 homicides per 100,000 population). Since 2014—the first year for which complete information regarding Indigenous identity was reported for victims of homicide—Indigenous people have been overrepresented as victims of homicide.
There were 235 victims of homicide identified by police as racialized (those identified as belonging to a visible minority group, as defined by the Employment Equity Act), accounting for 30% of homicide victims in 2023.
The rate of homicide for the racialized population was lower than the previous year, down 19% from 2.44 homicides per 100,000 population in 2022 to 1.98 homicides per 100,000 population in 2023. This rate was higher than the rate in 2023 for the non-racialized population (1.90 homicides per 100,000 population). Almost two out of five racialized victims (39%) were identified by police as Black, and another 20% were identified as South Asian.
