Kelowna in NDP-Run B.C. Hits Highest Crime in All Canada

A crime report has newly ranked 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.

By comparison the rates for Metro Vancouver, Victoria and Abbotsford-Mission are 5,898, 5,863 and 5,801, respectively.

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. 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. Sexual assault is also up in B.C.

Police-reported violence was actually up last year in the country to a level higher than what it was before the pandemic began.