Photo: Lkjx8651 · CC BY-SA 4.0Electoral Area B, East Kootenay sees less crime per resident than 62% of Canadian towns
The local count comes to 14.0 violent incidents and 19.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8, violent and non-violent offences here reach 67.3 and 50.1. The Safety Grade comes out at B, drawn from crime the police covering Electoral Area B, East Kootenay reported through 2023 to 2025.
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. Crime severity, crime rate and incident counts: one figure for all of the Fernie detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Electoral Area B, East Kootenay
A busy place, counted per resident
About 32% of Electoral Area B, 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 ↓
Lower than most of British Columbia
The typical British Columbia town scores 83.2; Electoral Area B, East Kootenay, 54.7. Towns its size ↓
Mischief: high for a town its size
Electoral Area B, 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 B, East Kootenay’s grade
How sure: A less certain grade than most, because the figures belong to the nearest detachment, 24 km from Electoral Area B, East Kootenay, not to the town.
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.
Crime in Electoral Area B, East Kootenay, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Electoral Area B, 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 B, 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.
Electoral Area B, East Kootenay’s index, one year at a time
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year came first: 2023, at 74.6, against a low of 41.5 in 2024. In the same years the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ read 70.6 (2023), then 62.9 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Electoral Area B, 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 B, East Kootenay, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Electoral Area B, East Kootenay
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral Area B, East Kootenay | 2,221 | 54.7 | 67.3 | B |
| Fernie (23 km) | 7,086 | 69.5 | 65.2 | C+ |
| Electoral Area A, East Kootenay (34 km) | 2,092 | 54.7 | 67.3 | B |
| Electoral Area C, East Kootenay (35 km) | 7,006 | 56.2 | 70.5 | B |
| Cranbrook (37 km) | 22,703 | 149.5 | 147.3 | D |
The places around Electoral Area B, East Kootenay all score higher on the index. One nearby place has no figure apart from this one: they share a police service.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. No closer places have figures: these lie 23–37 km from Electoral Area B, East Kootenay.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Read with care. 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.”
- The index’s scale. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
- What clearance means. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
- An index, not a verdict. 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.”
Questions about safety in Electoral Area B, East Kootenay
Is Electoral Area B, East Kootenay safe?
With 14 violent incidents and 19.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, Electoral Area B, East Kootenay comes to 54.7 on the Crime Severity Index (2023–2025); Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more have a median of 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Electoral Area B, 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 B, East Kootenay?
No: the index fell 36%, from 74.6 in 2023 to 47.9 in 2025. A small or partial count makes this change uncertain.
How much of Electoral Area B, East Kootenay’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 38% of crime (68% of violent crime, 22% of the rest). The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ clears 34%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Electoral Area B, 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).