Maclean’s has once again revealed its list of “Canada’s Most Dangerous Places,” and Campbell River has come it at number 88.
“We looked at 237 urban centres across the country, calculating the difference between their most recent crime severity indexes — a measure used by Statistics Canada that accounts for the seriousness of crimes as well as their number — and their crime severity indexes five years ago,” says Claire Bronwell, who authored the explainer article.
“While crime has fallen across Canada as a whole over the past five years, the results show many communities have had a very different experience,” she said.
Campbell River is one such community.
Over the past five years, according to the Maclean’s report, Campbell River has seen a slight increase in crime overall, including in rates of sexual assault, where we sit above the national average of 56.56 incidents per 100,000 population. In Campbell River, the rate is 63.71 per 100,000.
We’re also above the national average in firearms offences, where we sit at 9.1 incidents per 100,000 population compared to a Canadian average of 6.79.
The sexual assault numbers, however, rose across the country, an increase which Maclean’s cites as being spurred not necessarily by an increase in actual assaults, but by “a significant increase in sexual assaults reported to police in a year of widespread attention to the #MeToo movement.”
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Campbell River is also well above the national average in impaired driving offences. The average rate across Canada is 194.31 per 100,000 population, while we are at a whopping 263.94.
And it’s not just adults getting into trouble here in Campbell River. According to the report, Youth Criminal Justice Act offences across Canada average out at 16.74 per 100,000 population. In Campbell River, we sit over 300 per cent higher than that average at 63.71.
Campbell River, however, does have a lower drug trafficking rate than many communities, according to the report, with only 9.1 incidents of cannabis trafficking or production per 100,000 population – well below the national average of 29.32 – and 15.7 cocaine trafficking or production incidents per 100,000, slightly below the national average of 19.73.
If there’s another bright side to the report, it’s that Campbell River – of the communities on the list, at least – is safer than many other places on Vancouver Island.
Central Saanich, Comox, Port Alberni and Courtenay all came in well above Campbell River on the list, with Courtenay all the way up at No. 7.
Courtenay’s impaired driving incidents were all the way up at 380.02 per 100,000 population – almost twice the national average – and its drug trafficking or production rates are well above the national average, as well. Courtenay also has a higher rate of breaking and entering and a slightly higher robbery rate than Campbell River, though its Youth Criminal Justice Act offences number is much lower.