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Kelowna has the worst crime rate in Canada, newly released figures show.
According to Statistics Canada, the Kelowna census metropolitan area (CMA) had a police-reported crime rate of 11,112 per 100,000 people in 2021.
The rate in 2021 was 10 per cent higher than in 2020.
Kelowna also came second among Canada’s largest CMAs in the Crime Severity Index (CSI) rankings, which account for the seriousness of crimes as well as the volume.
The base of the index is 100, but Kelowna’s rating in 2021 was 122.3 – behind only Lethbridge.
The rate has also increased by six per cent since 2020.
Across Canada as a whole, the average CSI rating in 2021 was 73.7 – an annual decline of 0.3 per cent.
The average crime rate per 100,000 people was 5,375.
The rate in British Columbia in 2021 was 7,486, a four-per-cent decline compared with 2020.
Statistics Canada explained that Kelowna also had the second-highest rate of opioid offences (116 per 100,000), again behind only Lethbridge.
In the Violent Crime Severity Index, Kelowna was ranked seventh-worst in the country.
Thunder Bay had the worst rate, followed by Winnipeg and Sudbury.
The agency said Kelowna’s six-per-cent increase in serious crime was due to a rise in the following offences:
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Child pornography
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Shoplifting $5,000 and under
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Mischief
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Fraud
But StatCan said there has been a decline in:
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Trafficking
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Production, import or export of methamphetamine
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Identity fraud
Across Canada as a whole, the crime rate increased by 0.7 per cent between 2020 and 2021.
Violent crime, however, increased by 5.1 per cent, while non-violent crime declined 2.8 per cent.
Youth crime also declined 2.6 per cent.
See the full dataset here.
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