Most Canadians feeling less safe than before COVID-19 pandemic: poll

A new poll suggests most Canadians think the provincial and federal governments are doing a poor job of addressing crime and public safety.

A new poll suggests most Canadians feel they’re less safe now than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, and most think the provincial and federal governments are doing a poor job of addressing crime and public safety.

In an online survey, Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies asked how the level of crime and violence in a respondent’s home community today compares to how it was before the pandemic began in early 2020.

Nearly two-thirds of those who took the survey said they feel things are worse – with 32 per cent saying crime and violence has gotten “much worse” and 32 per cent saying it is “a little worse.”

A quarter of respondents said the situation hasn’t changed, and eight per cent said they don’t know. Just two per cent of people said the situation is “a little better.”

Women living in urban areas were more likely to report that things are worse today.

Those in B.C. were most likely to say crime and violence are worse since the pandemic hit, at 72 per cent, while people in Quebec were least likely to say so, at 54 per cent. Quebecers were most likely to say things have not changed.

However, when asked whether they experienced, witnessed or knew someone who experienced a series of unsafe situations – from vandalism to theft to physical assault – a large majority of respondents said they didn’t.

The most common type of unsafe situation people reported was “aggressive behaviour,” which the survey identified as issuing threats, yelling or causing someone to fear for their safety. Of those surveyed, 20 per cent said they’d experienced such behaviour and 19 per cent said they feared for their safety at least once in the last six months.