Saint John, N.B., ranked fifth safest city in Canada

Saint John, N.B., is the fifth safest city in Canada according to a recent report.

Conducted by the rental platform Rentola.ca, the port city is the only major Atlantic metropolitan area to rank inside the top 25 with Moncton, N.B., coming in at 26, while Halifax, N.S., ranked 31 out of the 34 eligible cities. Barrie, Ont., was deemed the safest city in Canada.

To determine the safest city rankings, Rentola analyzed several key factors including the number of citizens per police officer, the amount of violent and non-violent crimes, and the crime solving rate on a scale of one to ten.

Saint John secured an overall safety index of 6.46 out of 10. Moncton mustered a score of 5.50, while Halifax scored 5.04.

“Well we are Canada’s first incorporated city so we certainly had lots of time to get it right,” said one resident upon hearing where Saint John ranked. “It’s a very safe city you can walk anywhere day or night. Very friendly, very open, and very historic.”

Some folks who call Saint John home were a little more surprised to see the city ranked so high.

“I think that’s great news if true but I’m always reluctant for information like that,” said a resident enjoying an afternoon uptown. “I think parts of Saint John are very safe, I have always felt safe.”

One lady noted like any city, some areas are worse than others.

“I live over on the west side now in a quieter area,” she said. “There is no shootings on the street, no maggots, no needles in alleyways so it’s a huge difference.”

Shaleena Faust works at the Uptown Eatery in the heart of the city. Since moving from Toronto, Ont., which ranked fourth on the list, she has felt more at ease.

“It’s does feel very safe here,” Faust says. “It doesn’t have that feeling of having to look behind you all the time that I had when I was in [Toronto].”

Staff Sergeant. Sean Rocca is the corporate communications manager with the Saint John Police Force. He says in 2021 the department unveiled a new five-year strategic plan to help the force refocus as an organization with improved vison missions, values, and leadership principles.

“We have an incredibly group of dedicated group of police officer and citizen staff,” says Sgt. Rocca. “[They] really focus on investigative excellence and we are certainly seeing there results to address the root issues of a lot of the problems we face in Saint John.”

Of the numerous new measures the force have implemented over the past two years including increased foot patrols and revamped training with a focus on leadership, as well as greater focuses on mental health supports. New groups have also been formed within the organization to help improve the city.

“We have created the chiefs advisory committee,” says Sgt. Rocca. “Which is a group of individuals from the community that represent diverse groups within Saint John and they provide advice to the chief of police and the organization itself in terms of how we can do better in serving various communities in the city, as well as addressing any barriers within the community itself which has been very helpful.”

The staff sergeant notes while the force has made great strides in helping to improve the city in recent years, there is still plenty more work to be done.

“We are not perfect,” acknowledges Sgt. Rocca. “But we are committed to being better as an organization and to serving the citizens of Saint John the best that we can and that’s not going to change.”

Sgt. Rocca adds one of the big focuses for the force right now is community engagement, acknowledging the police cannot solve every issues alone, but are eager to help find solutions to keep the city as safe as can be.

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