Photo: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada · CC BY 2.0Fewer crimes per resident are recorded in Shawnigan than in 68% of Canadian towns
None of the 3 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. Shawnigan’s letter for safety is B+, worked out from crime the police covering Shawnigan reported over 2023 to 2025: #36 of 251 in British Columbia. Behind the grade sit 11.4 violent incidents and 17.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical town its size. Statistics Canada puts its Crime Severity Index at 49.9 for 2023–2025; the typical Canadian town its size scores 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. Area behind the crime severity, crime rate and incident counts figures: the Shawnigan Lake detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Shawnigan
Less severe than in 2023
Shawnigan’s index went from 59.8 in 2023 to 38 in 2025; the typical Canadian town its size moved from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
Lower than most of British Columbia
Set among British Columbia’s towns, whose median is 83.2, Shawnigan scores 49.9. Towns its size ↓
In the middle of towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Shawnigan is 18th of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
Mischief: high for a town its size
Shawnigan 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.
The B+ for Shawnigan, and how it is built
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 Shawnigan, 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. In the same years the typical Canadian town its size read 74.3 (2023), then 64.2 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Shawnigan | 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 Shawnigan, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Which crimes make up Shawnigan’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Shawnigan runs highest on mischief (7.6 per 1,000 against 4.9). Break and enter 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.
Around 230 violent incidents a year in the 20,300-resident police area around Shawnigan, 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.
And about 350 property crimes, plus 300 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Shawnigan comes 18th of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beckwith Ontario | 10,073 | 20.5 | 25.5 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 11 | Blind Bay British Columbia | 9,984 | 40.8 | 37.4 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 15 | Electoral Area C (Puntledge - Black Creek), Comox Valley British Columbia | 9,803 | 49.5 | 61.5 | B+ |
| 16 | Leeds and the Thousand Islands Ontario | 10,185 | 49.6 | 50.6 | B+ |
| 17 | Elizabethtown-Kitley Ontario | 9,886 | 49.6 | 50.6 | B+ |
| 18 | Shawnigan British Columbia | 9,903 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| 19 | Qualicum Beach British Columbia | 9,640 | 51.5 | 32.6 | B+ |
| 20 | Coaldale Alberta | 9,644 | 57.1 | 45.1 | B |
| 21 | East St. Paul Manitoba | 10,321 | 58.8 | 39.1 | B |
| … | |||||
| 27 | Revelstoke British Columbia | 9,464 | 75.8 | 69 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 29 | Ladysmith British Columbia | 9,926 | 77.3 | 70.2 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 33 | Kitimat British Columbia | 10,019 | 100.8 | 107.1 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Plympton-Wyoming Ontario | 9,548 | 333.9 | 378.3 | 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 Shawnigan in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Crime in the places around Shawnigan
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shawnigan | 9,903 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley | 5,156 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| Cobble Hill | 5,074 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| Cowichan Bay | 3,713 | 131.7 | 149.7 | D |
| Cowichan | 2,509 | — | — | — |
| Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley | 4,482 | 131.7 | 149.7 | D |
| Duncan | 5,745 | 384.5 | 331.1 | D− |
The places around Shawnigan all score higher on the index. The comparison skips 2 neighbours reported under the same police.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The index’s scale. Canada’s own index has been below its 2006 base of 100 for years, so 100 marks a fixed reference, not today’s national average.
- What clearance means. The clearance rate is the share of incidents police solve, by a charge or otherwise, weighted by seriousness like the index. It isn’t a conviction rate.
- An index, not a verdict. The Crime Severity Index adds up police-reported crime, each kind weighted by the sentences courts give it, so one robbery counts for more than many thefts. In Statistics Canada’s words, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- Shared with the countryside. An RCMP or OPP detachment reports one set of figures for everywhere it polices, so Shawnigan’s are shared with its surroundings.
Questions about safety in Shawnigan
Is Shawnigan safe?
On Statistics Canada’s figures, Shawnigan scores 49.9 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, with 11.4 violent and 17.3 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year. The middle of Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people is 68.5.
What is the most common crime in Shawnigan?
Police record mischief most, 7.6 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of other Criminal Code offences (6.3) and Criminal Code traffic offences (5.3).
Is crime going up in Shawnigan?
It went down 36% between 2023 and 2025, from 59.8 to 38.
How much of Shawnigan’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 24% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 38% of violent crime and 18% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Shawnigan and other places, so the figures are shared.
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).