Kelowna's crime rate the highest of all Canadian metropolitan areas
![Kelowna, B.C., news (Shutterstock.com)](/content/dam/ctvnews/en/images/2022/4/25/kelowna--b-c---news-1-5875808-1650927903475.jpg)
A federal report on crime rates across the country ranks Kelowna as worst in Canada when it comes to crime rate.
Metro Kelowna is listed in the Statistics Canada Crime Severity Index as having a rate of 11,112 per 100,000 residents.
It's the highest rate in the country, and the only rate reaching into five digits. In second, looking at that metric, is the Lethbridge, Alta., area at 9,836 per 100,000.
Third is Moncton, N.B., at 9,168.
By comparison the rates for Metro Vancouver, Victoria and Abbotsford-Mission are 5,898, 5,863 and 5,801, respectively.
The rate in the census metropolitan area of Kelowna is up 10 per cent year over year.
According to the data from StatCan, there were 27,147 Criminal Code violations in the region in 2021, resulting in charges against 2,338 people. Of the total offences, about 8,260 cases were cleared, whether through charges or otherwise.
StatCan puts the crime severity index (CSI), which is 73.7 across Canada, at 122.3 in Kelowna. The area, which includes the city as well as West Kelowna, Lake Country, Peachland and other census subdivisions, is not first in this category but second, after Lethbridge.
The CSI is not based on violent crime alone, but on all police-reported offences under the Criminal Code, meaning some traffic offences, for example, would also count toward the number. But the crime rate, where Kelowna ranks highest, is based on Criminal Code incidents excluding traffic violations.
Filtering to violent crime only, Kelowna sits in seventh. Major issues in the city, based on this data, are opioid-related offences, child pornography, shoplifting, mischief and fraud. Where it did better than in previous years is in crimes including trafficking, production and importation of methamphetamine, and identity fraud.
The annual CSI is compared to a baseline set at 100 in 2006 in Canada.
The CSI for Canada this year is down 0.3 per cent from last year, something StatCan in part attributes to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
British Columbia as a province saw one of the largest downward impacts in the country, at five per cent. Behind this decrease were fewer reports of breaking and entering, theft under $5,000 and general fraud, but sexual assault was up in B.C., StatCan said.
The data reported Tuesday, collected in 2021, suggested an overall decrease in police-reported crime in Canada. But the decrease was driven by dips in non-violent crime.
Police-reported violence was actually up last year in the country to a level higher than what it was before the pandemic began.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6976926.1721883767!/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.png)
AS IT HAPPENED Wildfire reaches Jasper Wednesday night, causes 'significant loss'
One of two wildfires threatening Jasper National Park reached the townsite Wednesday night and caused 'significant loss.'
Alberta calls in army to assist with wildfire situation
Alberta has called in the Canadian Armed Forces to help assist with the worsening wildfire situation in the province.
Biden explains why he ended re-election bid in Oval Office address
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a solemn call to voters to defend the country's democracy as he laid out in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Barrie-Innisfil MPP 'blacked-out' and crashed car into window of child care centre
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
Norad intercepts Russian and Chinese bombers operating together near Alaska in apparent first
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska Wednesday in what appears to be the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.
2 Canadians being 'sent home immediately,' removed from Olympic team after drone incident
An analyst and an assistant coach with Canada Soccer are being removed from the Canadian Olympic Team and 'sent home immediately,' according to the Canadian Olympic Committee.
An unwelcome attendee has joined the Paris Olympic Games: COVID-19
After a handful of Australian water polo players tested positive for COVID-19 this week, questions have emerged around how the spread of the disease will be mitigated at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
Vacations, meals, booze: Contractor used $100K of charity's money for personal expenses, B.C. court finds
A B.C. man who was hired to help a non-profit build a food hub but instead spent the money on personal expenses – including travel, restaurants, booze and cannabis – has been ordered to pay more than $120,000 in damages.
Male, female killed, 2 others injured in 'gun battle' outside Toronto plaza: police
Two people are dead and two others suffered serious injuries following a shooting that police have described as a 'gun battle' outside a plaza in Scarborough, Ont. early Wednesday morning.