Reporting on March 26, 2024, on police resources across Canada, Statistics Canada said that, as of May 15, 2023, there were 71,472 police officers across all Canadian police services — 892 more than on the same date in 2022.
However, the per capita number of police officers nationally declined from 2022 by almost two per cent, “largely attributable to the increase of the Canadian population in 2023, when the growth of the population outpaced that of the number of police officers.”
The downward trend started more than a decade ago, the federal agency said, reporting that the national rate of “police strength” (i.e. the number of police officers per 100,000 population) was 178 officers — the lowest rate since 1970.
In 2023, the only jurisdictions that had a higher rate of police strength than the national level were Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
Reporting on diversity trends in policing, Statistics Canada said that fewer than one in 10 police officers were part of a racialized group in 2023, notwithstanding that 26.5 per cent of Canada’s population is Indigenous, Black or people of colour (IBPOC).
By comparison, eight per cent of all police officers and13 per cent of all recruits in Canada in 2023 identified as part of a racialized group, unchanged from 2022.
However, last year 13 per cent of RCMP officers were part of a racialized group and — notably — the proportion of racialized officers was just two per cent within the Ontario Provincial Police and one percent within the Sûreté du Québec.
For municipal police services, the proportion of racialized officers was seven per cent.
By contrast, the representation of Indigenous Peoples in police services in 2023, at least nationally, was closer to their proportional representation in the general population.
According to the 2021 Census, five per cent of the Canadian population identified as First Nations, Métis or Inuit. On May 15, 2023, four per cent (or 2,701) of all police officers in Canada identified as Indigenous, as well as five per cent (or 87) of all recruits.
Indigenous police officers accounted for seven per cent of RCMP officers, two per cent of officers within municipal police services and the Sûreté du Québec, and one per cent of officers within the Ontario Provincial Police.
In First Nations police services, more than half (57 per cent) of police officers identified as Indigenous.
The presence of women in Canadian police services continued to rise in 2023, “increasing steadily” since1986, when women made up close to four per cent of all police officers, Statistics Canada said.
On May 15, 2023, there were 16,429 female police officers in Canada, 411 more than on the same date in 2022, the agency reported.
Overall, in 2023, women represented 23 per cent of all police officers. They made up a quarter of all police constables and a slightly smaller proportion of commissioned and non-commissioned officers, although their presence in the more senior ranks continued to increase.
From 2022 to 2023, the number of women who were commissioned officers rose to 622 from 605, and the number of women non-commissioned officers rose to 4,000 from 3,928.
Statistics Canada said the number of calls for service to police services decreased by two per cent in 2022/2023 as compared with 2021/2022. Police services responded to some 11.6 million calls in 2022/2023 or an average of 1,320 calls for service per hour. Of all police-reported calls for service, municipal police services handled 60 per cent while the RCMP responded to 25 per cent, followed by provincial police services (14 per cent) and First Nations police services (one per cent).
Meanwhile, police operating expenditures did not outpace inflation. The total operating expenditures for all police services across Canada were $19.7 billion in current dollars — an increase of six per cent over 2021/2022. The total comprised salaries and wages (61 per cent), benefits (22 per cent) and other operating expenditures (17 per cent).
Although total operating expenditures, in current dollars, increased in 2022/2023, in constant dollars (i.e., after inflation was accounted for), total operating expenditures decreased one-half of a percent from 2021/2022, the federal agency said.
On a per capita basis for Canada, in constant dollars, police operating expenditures amounted to $335 per person in 2022/2023, a decrease of two per cent, compared with 2021/2022.
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