A video on TikTok falsely claims Sudbury, Ont., is one of 'Canada's Top 5 Most Dangerous Cities,' but where did the data come from and what do the crime statistics actually say?
Content on social media is not scrutizined, so CTV News has done the fact checking for you.
ABOUT THE VIDEO
The 30-second video posted by an account called freshdailyca acquired more than 1.5 million views, more than 65,800 likes and more than 4,800 comments in one day. It was posted Oct. 11.
While the information in the video is not attributed, it appears to be based off data from a website called Numbeo. It is a Serbian crowd-sourced database that is based "on surveys from visitors," similar to Wikipedia, rather than data from government sources. It has user-generated data on perceived cost of living and quality of life.
WHAT THE VIDEO SAYS
"Canada's most dangerous cities have been ranked and you'll be shocked at the list," the woman in the video said.
She goes on to list the alleged top five by crime index. The figures stated in the video and the Numbeo website at time of publication vary slightly by up to one point:
- Surrey, B.C. 63.97
- Lethbridge, Alta. 63.34
- Red Deer, Alta. 62.64
- Kelowna, B.C. 62.40
- Sudbury, Ont. 60.26
WHAT IS A CRIME INDEX?
Statistics Canada compiles crime severity index (CSI) rates for police-reported crimes each year for 35 census metropolitan areas (CMA) from around the country, including Greater Sudbury. The number includes all criminal code violations -- including traffic, drug and all federal statutes -- and is based on their seriousness and actual sentences handed down
"A CMA must have a total population of at least 100,000 of which 50,000 or more must live in the core," Statistics Canada said.
The CSI "enables Canadians to track changes in the severity of police-reported crime from year to year."
HOW DOES SUDBURY COMPARE?
Here's the five Canadian cities with highest CSIs in 2021 are:
- Lethbridge 128.7
- Kelowna 122.3
- Winnipeg 113.6
- Moncton 113.4
- Regina 110.9
Greater Sudbury's CSI for 2021 is listed as 84.4. and is actually No. 9 on the Statistics Canada CMA list, behind Saskatoon, Thunder Bay and Edmonton.
The country's average crime severity index for 2021 is 73.7, a drop of -0.3 per cent over the previous year. So, Sudbury is trending higher than the national crime average.
However, when it comes to the violent crime severity index, Greater Sudbury ranks higher after steadily increasing from 76.9 to 127.15 over the last five years. The national average is 92.5
Here is a look at the violent crime severity index for some cities:
- Thunder Bay 176.30
- Red Deer 175.65
- Winnipeg 159.62
- Regina 141.30
- Greater Sudbury 127.15
- Saskatoon 121.44
- Lethbridge 114.25
- Kelowna 110.76
- Edmonton 109.98
- Moncton 97.95
- Surrey 85.23
- Calgary 82.74
- Montreal 82.04
- Vancouver 79.00
- Toronto 65.01
When it comes to violent crime severity index, provincial CSI rates are:
- Alberta 101.36
- B.C. 92.86
- Manitoba 126.92
- New Brunswick 88.48
- Newfoundland 75.50
- N.W.T. 391.27
- Nova Scotia 71.60
- Nunavut 384.09
- Ontario 56.21
- P.E.I. 56.95
- Quebec 54.30
- Saskatchewan 146.76
- Yukon 213.26
Find the full list here.
WHAT ABOUT SURREY AND RED DEER?
Statistics Canada compiles the crime data for both Red Deer, Alta., and Surrey, B.C., from the Royal Mounted Police.
In 2021, Surrey's population was 568,322 and its CSI was 85.98 – higher than both the national average and Greater Sudbury.
The population in Red Deer in 2021 was 100,844 and its CSI was 176.39.
