The figures, published by Statistics Canada on Tuesday, registered the Crime Severity Index in Saskatchewan for 2024 at a staggering 153.9, nearly double the national average (77.9) and two-and-a-half times the numbers for provinces like Ontario and Quebec.
“People don’t feel safe in their communities,” said Vicki Mowat, Saskatchewan NDP Deputy Leader. “We remember a time when we would leave our doors unlocked and walk our streets alone at night — but that’s not the reality anymore after 18 years of Sask. Party failures. This Government hasn’t done a thing to protect our communities, to get tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime.”
Scott Moe’s Government has wasted time and public dollars on establishing a Marshals Service that creates more bureaucracy from the RCMP and local police forces, Mowat said.
She also pointed to skyrocketing crime rates in several Saskatchewan communities dating all the way back to Scott Moe taking over as Premier in 2018 as evidence of his government’s continuous failure. Melfort, for example, has seen a horrific 108 per cent increase in its crime rate since 2018.
Other communities Moe’s handpicked Cabinet Ministers claim to represent have seen massive increases as well — North Battleford (37 per cent) and Swift Current (16 per cent). Sask. Party MLAs are also missing in action as crime soars in communities like Yorkton (a 25 per cent increase to the crime rate since 2018), Humboldt (20 per cent) and Prince Albert (seven per cent).
The homicide rate in Saskatchewan has also increased 73 per cent since Moe took the province’s head office and is almost three times the national average.
Mowat said, despite all of this, the Sask. Party has repeatedly missed hiring targets for police, for appointing judges and actually went so far as to cut funding for mental health and addictions supports that can be used to address the root causes of crime.
The Government has also allowed more than 2,000 public housing units to sit vacant because they either don’t care or refuse to provide funding to make the spaces livable.
“These are supports that can go a long way to improving public safety,” Mowat said. “We can get people off the streets, help them battle their addictions and get their lives back.
“The Sask. Party is burying its head in the sand while a crime wave sweeps our province. We need a government with a plan, that’s focused on making our communities safe, now and into the future.”
The Saskatchewan NDP will continue to tour communities throughout the summer that have been failed by the Sask. Party and are severely impacted by crime. The Caucus will be speaking with impacted residents and key groups to gather ideas on how best to combat crime and improve public safety.
The Crime Severity Index measures 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 courts.
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