For recorded crime, Telkwa sits in the middle of Canadian towns
The overall Safety Grade is B−, which means close to the middle of Canadian towns, judged on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Still, on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index, the 2023–2025 average is 65, where the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ sits at 67.2. Behind the grade sit 18.1 violent incidents and 21.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. For solved cases, the weighted rate is 28%, where the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ manages 34%.
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: the Smithers detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Telkwa
Mischief: high for a town its size
Telkwa records 9.5 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 ↓
Violence weighs more than the rest
Violent crime scores 107 on Telkwa’s index against 86.4 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+; non-violent crime, 48.7 against 62.8. By type ↓
Lighter than British Columbia’s middle
The typical British Columbia town scores 83.2; Telkwa, 65. Towns its size ↓
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 Telkwa’s grade
How sure: Less sure than most: the grade leans on the closest detachment, 13 km from Telkwa, since none reports under the town’s name.
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.
Which crimes make up Telkwa’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Telkwa runs highest on mischief (9.5 per 1,000 against 4.2) and assault (8.6 per 1,000 against 6.7). Fraud and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.3 | 0.04 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 4.7 | 0.6 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0.7 | 0.08 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.7 | 0.08 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.04 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0 | 0 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 15.3 | 1.9 | 18% |
| Possession of stolen property | 2 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 9 | 1.1 | 19% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 3.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 31.3 | 3.9 | 7% |
| Mischief | 76.3 | 9.5 | 12% |
| Weapons violations | 2.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 31 | 3.9 | 36% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 7.3 | 0.9 | 23% |
| Drug violations | 8.7 | 1.1 | 11% |
| Impaired driving | 16.7 | 2.1 | 62% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0 | 0 | — |
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.
In Telkwa, steady between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
The first year, 2023, was the heaviest at 68.5, and 2024 the lightest at 59.5. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Telkwa | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 66.9 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 59.5 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 68.5 | 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 Telkwa, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Around 150 violent incidents a year at the detachment nearest Telkwa (8,030 residents), 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 170 property crimes, plus 100 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Crime in the places around Telkwa
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telkwa | 1,544 | 65 | 107 | B− |
| Electoral Area A, Bulkley-Nechako | 5,829 | 65 | 107 | B− |
| Smithers | 5,627 | 202.3 | 180.8 | D |
The comparison skips one neighbour reported under the same police.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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. The index weighs crimes rather than counting them: a serious offence moves it far more than a minor one. Statistics Canada is plain about its limits: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Telkwa
Is Telkwa safe?
Averaged over 2023–2025, the Crime Severity Index for Telkwa comes to 65. Per 1,000 residents a year, police logged 18.1 violent incidents and 21.3 property crimes. Across Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more, the median is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Telkwa?
Most often it is mischief: 9.5 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come assault at 8.6 and other Criminal Code offences at 8.4.
Is crime going up in Telkwa?
Not much: the index went from 68.5 in 2023 to 66.9 in 2025.
How much of Telkwa’s crime do police solve?
About 28% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 45% of violent and 16% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Telkwa and everywhere else it polices.
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).