Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainRecorded crime per resident is lower in Electoral Area A, East Kootenay than in 62% of Canadian towns
Its violent half comes to 67.3 and its non-violent half to 50.1, where the norm is 86.4 and 62.8. The grade is B, built on crime the police covering Electoral Area A, East Kootenay reported from 2023 to 2025. Still, each year brought 14.0 violent incidents and 19.4 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+).
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 Fernie detachment area: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in Electoral Area A, East Kootenay
A busy place, counted per resident
About 33% of Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s homes are cottages, second homes or otherwise empty much of the year: crime in the busy months is divided by year-round residents only, which lifts every rate here. How to read it ↓
Lighter than British Columbia’s middle
Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s index of 54.7 compares with 83.2 for the typical town in British Columbia. Towns its size ↓
Mischief: high for a town its size
Electoral Area A, East Kootenay records 6.9 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.2 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. By type ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s grade
How sure: Less sure than most. No detachment reports for Electoral Area A, East Kootenay itself, so the grade rests on the nearest one’s figures, 11 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.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Electoral Area A, East Kootenay runs highest on mischief (6.9 per 1,000 against 4.2). Theft under $5,000 sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1 | 0.4 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0 | 0 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0 | 0 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1 | 0.4 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 2.3 | 0.9 | — |
| Possession of stolen property | 0 | 0 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 6 | 2.4 | 12% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 1 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 10 | 3.7 | 7% |
| Mischief | 18.7 | 6.9 | 21% |
| Weapons violations | 2.3 | 0.9 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 5.7 | 2.1 | 40% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 1 | 0.3 | — |
| Drug violations | 1.7 | 0.6 | — |
| Impaired driving | 20.7 | 7.5 | 57% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.7 | 0.2 | — |
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 people or more.
The detachment closest to Electoral Area A, East Kootenay, 2,950 residents, recorded about 38 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 52 a year and other violations 53 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Three years of Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s crime index
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 74.6; the lightest was 2024, at 41.5. The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Electoral Area A, East Kootenay | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 47.9 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 41.5 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 74.6 | 70.6 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Electoral Area A, East Kootenay, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Electoral Area A, East Kootenay
Every neighbour with a figure of its own has a higher index than Electoral Area A, East Kootenay.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What the index measures. Police-reported incidents, each multiplied by a weight drawn from court sentences, summed and divided by the population: that is the index, and its makers attach a caution, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- Few people behind the figures. The police behind these figures serve about 2,947 people, so a handful of incidents moves every rate. Statistics Canada’s note: “Data for police services or detachments with populations less than 5,000 should be used with caution.”
- 100 is Canada in 2006. The index is scaled so that Canada as a whole scored 100 in its base year, 2006: a town at 50 has half that severity per resident.
- Cleared, not convicted. A cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
Questions about safety in Electoral Area A, East Kootenay
Is Electoral Area A, East Kootenay safe?
Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s Crime Severity Index is 54.7 (2023–2025 mean); its police record 14 violent incidents and 19.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year. The middle of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Electoral Area A, East Kootenay?
Most often it is Criminal Code traffic offences: 9.6 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come assault at 6.9 and mischief at 6.9.
Is crime going up in Electoral Area A, East Kootenay?
Down 36%: 74.6 in 2023, 47.9 in 2025. The police area is small or partly reported, so treat the change with care.
How much of Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 38% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 68% of violent crime and 22% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Electoral Area A, East Kootenay 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).