Photo: Ymblanter · CC BY-SA 4.0Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley records less crime per resident than two in three Canadian towns
Police clear 24% of crime, weighted by seriousness; the figure for the typical Canadian town its size is 34%. Even so, typical years here bring 11.4 violent incidents plus 17.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 12.9 plus 31.2 in the typical town its size. Measured on crime the police covering Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley reported between 2023 and 2025, it earns a Safety Grade of B+: #36 of 251 in British Columbia. On Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index, the 2023–2025 average is 49.9, where the typical Canadian town its size sits at 68.5.
Statistics Canada, police-reported crime, 2023–2025 means. The index weighs each crime by its seriousness; rates are incidents per 1,000 residents a year. Shared with the rest of the Shawnigan Lake detachment area: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley
Less severe than in 2023
In 2023 the index in Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley stood at 59.8, by 2025 at 38. Over the same years the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
Below British Columbia’s typical town
Within British Columbia, the median town comes to 83.2 on the index, against 49.9 in Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley. Towns its size ↓
Lower than many towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley stands 9th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Mischief: high for a town its size
Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley records 7.6 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. By type ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley’s B+ for safety
How sure: Less sure, as Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley has no detachment of its own in Statistics Canada’s tables and is graded on the closest one’s figures, 6 km away.
The grade weighs the Crime Severity Index and its violent half, averaged over 2023–2025, against every Canadian town and city neighbourhood of 1,000 people or more.
Its place: #36 of 251 in British Columbia and #534 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
In Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley, down 36% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
The first year, 2023, was the heaviest at 59.8, and 2025 the lightest at 38. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town its size, runs from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 38 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 51.9 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 59.8 | 74.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Which crimes make up Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley runs highest on mischief (7.6 per 1,000 against 4.9). Motor vehicle theft and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 9 | 0.4 | 30% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 1.7 | 0.08 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1 | 0.05 | — |
| Robbery | 0.7 | 0.03 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.03 | — |
| Other violent violations | 3 | 0.1 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 18.3 | 0.9 | 20% |
| Possession of stolen property | 7.7 | 0.4 | 43% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 24 | 1.2 | 13% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 8.7 | 0.4 | 3% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 63.7 | 3.1 | 17% |
| Mischief | 154.7 | 7.6 | 25% |
| Weapons violations | 5 | 0.2 | 66% |
| Administration of justice violations | 35 | 1.7 | 63% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 14.3 | 0.7 | 33% |
| Drug violations | 10.7 | 0.5 | 28% |
| Impaired driving | 94 | 4.6 | 61% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1.3 | 0.07 | — |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment, incidents a year its own. Cleared: incidents solved by a charge or otherwise, as a share of those reported.
Incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 means, against the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley is 9th of 40 towns its size, lowest index first
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norwood Ontario | 5,308 | 25.2 | 31.4 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 3 | Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay British Columbia | 5,243 | 36.8 | 46.9 | A |
| 4 | Metchosin British Columbia | 5,207 | 40.7 | 41.3 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 6 | Saint-Denis-de-Brompton Quebec | 5,249 | 45 | 82.8 | A− |
| 7 | Centre Hastings Ontario | 5,170 | 46.8 | 68 | B+ |
| 8 | Cumberland British Columbia | 4,974 | 49.5 | 61.5 | B+ |
| 9 | Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley British Columbia | 5,156 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| 10 | Cobble Hill British Columbia | 5,074 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| 11 | Electoral Area F, Cariboo British Columbia | 5,016 | 51.7 | 55.1 | B+ |
| 12 | Morin-Heights Quebec | 5,086 | 53.5 | 71.6 | B |
| … | |||||
| 19 | Electoral Area C, North Okanagan British Columbia | 5,029 | 61.3 | 74.1 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 26 | Gibsons British Columbia | 5,090 | 76.6 | 94 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Nipawin Saskatchewan | 5,033 | 182.3 | 163.9 | D |
The 40 Canadian towns of 2,500+ people closest in population; city neighbourhoods, city totals and reserves are left out. Towns on one police service or detachment share its index.
The Canadian towns closest to Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
The detachment closest to Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley, 20,300 residents, recorded about 230 violent incidents a year, 2023–2025
Violent incidents per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Property crimes per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Statistics Canada counts actual incidents; those police record as unfounded are listed apart and kept out of its crime rates and severity index. Each incident is filed under its most serious violation, which the survey sets partly by the maximum penalty.
Property crime adds about 350 a year and other violations 300 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Crime in the places around Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley | 5,156 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| Cobble Hill | 5,074 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| Shawnigan | 9,903 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| North Saanich | 12,986 | 37.5 | 32.9 | A |
| Sidney | 13,445 | 68.4 | 72.4 | B− |
| Cowichan Bay | 3,713 | 131.7 | 149.7 | D |
| Central Saanich | 18,184 | 34.7 | 33.1 | A |
Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley sits above 2 of the 4 neighbours with figures of their own. The nearest of them, North Saanich (9.5 km away), scores 37.5 against 49.9. Sharing its police with 2 neighbours, it shares their figure as well, so they aren’t compared.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Cleared, not convicted. Police clear an incident by charging someone, recommending a charge, or closing it another way. The rate weighs serious crimes more, as the index does.
- What the index measures. Statistics Canada, which publishes the index, attaches a caution: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.” The number weighs each reported crime by its seriousness before dividing by residents.
- 100 is Canada in 2006. Its scale starts from Canada in 2006, set at 100, so a figure above 100 means more serious crime per resident than the country had then.
Questions about safety in Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley
Is Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley safe?
Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley measures 49.9 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, next to 68.5 for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Per 1,000 residents a year, its police record 11.4 violent incidents and 17.3 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley?
Top of the list is mischief (7.6 per 1,000 residents a year); other Criminal Code offences, at 6.3, and Criminal Code traffic offences, at 5.3, follow.
Is crime going up in Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley?
Down 36%: 59.8 in 2023, 38 in 2025.
How much of Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 24%: 38% for violent crime and 18% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town its size it is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley together with its neighbours or the countryside around it.
Source: Statistics Canada, police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025 (Statistics Canada Open Licence); TownRatings calculation.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, police services (tables 35-10-0186 to 0190, 0061, 0063, 0064), 2023–2025 · Statistics Canada, Incident-based crime statistics by detailed violations, police services (35-10-0178 to 0185) · Safety Grade: TownRatings calculation. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).