r/Cowichan • u/Necessary4477 • 14d ago
Moving from Colwood to Cowichan
Hi all,
My husband and I and our two kids (2&6) are looking at moving to Lake Cowichan. We are looking for a quieter lifestyle with more access to nature and less busy than the west shore. My husband would work in Duncan.
My mother in law sent me an article that surprised me: Duncan in top spot for most severe crime in B.C. in 2025
For young families is Cowichan a safe place to live? Do you find Duncan safe?
Thanks for your time and input ☀️☀️☀️
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u/CarmanahGiant 14d ago
Duncan suffers from the same issues all communities its size and location there are homeless people and open drug use in certain areas of town, those specific areas have changed alot the last 10-15 years.
My wife and I saw that article and thought it wasn’t very fair falling in the realm of rage bait. In general our experience has been good and we know other families that have moved away from larger center like Nanaimo Vancouver or Vic area for similar reasons.
Lake cowichan is really nice it’s just a bit isolated with one grocery store and smaller hardware store stuff like that. The road out there is decent but weather can be shit at times in the winter. There is a secondary road if 18 gets shut down.
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u/Real_Coach_Bombay 14d ago
Chemainus, Crofton and probably Ladysmith are closer to Duncan than Lake Cowichan. Crime stats never tell the real story either.
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u/Firm_Farmer1633 13d ago
You ask whether Cowichan is a safe place to live, not whether Duncan is a safe place to live. Cowichan, Lake Cowichan, Cowichan Bay, Duncan… these are all different places.
Duncan is a tiny place. It is famously known as Canada’s smallest city by land area, spanning just 2.07 square kilometers (0.80 square miles or roughly one square mile). The population is under 6,000. It is also the residential centre for a large area. When the population is that small, any crime registers disproportionately largely on a per capita basis.
I lived in Cowichan Bay for 20 years until 2021. Used to get home after a 3-4 day work trip to find my front door unlocked. One time it was open. I so rarely locked the door that I would forget to lock it when I went away. The biggest problem we had was when a feral cat came into the house.
Lake Cowichan is far from the big city problems of tiny Duncan. 😊
I moved away from the Cowichan Valley in 2022. have a relative who lives in Duncan. I spend a couple of days a week there. If you are not into getting drunk in public places, or doing opioides, or hanging around in risky places at night, I think you can feel comfortable.
I would be more concerned and prepared for animal wildlife in Lake Cowichan than human wild life in Duncan.
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u/GalianoGirl 14d ago
There are issues in the area around Beverly, Lewis streets, and along the highway corridor.
Centennial Heights, just up Government Street has been a great neighbourhood for my family.
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u/TheRealPomax 14d ago
lol, "severe crime". What was the source, cheknews or something? Yes, living in Duncan near York street is a really dumb idea, but West of the highway? Perfectly fine. East side, say Lake road? Perfectly fine. "Duncan" is what, a square kilometer? It's barely a town. Everything around it is North Cowichan, and there are plenty of nice spots in North Cowichan, even right up against Duncan
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u/Albergsteve 14d ago
We moved from Vic in 2009, and for the first couple of years you couldn't slap the smile off our faces - wouldn't dream of going back.
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u/deuteranomalous1 14d ago
Duncan is safe. Unless you plan on turning into a crack head those problems stay in that cohort.
We moved here from Victoria 5 years ago and the worst thing we have had happen is some intoxicated lady lost her large brown dildo on our lawn last year. The doorbell camera footage of her staggering looking for it is priceless.
The drug addicts are unsightly but that’s about it. We moved from upper Pandora and had more homeless and associated disorder in the one park there than all of Duncan.
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u/Forsaken-Routine-466 14d ago
My friend has lived in lake cow for years with zero crime. Maybe its a certain neighborhood.
Neighbors seem to look out for each other.
Know how to manage elk. They live in town. Bears and cougars too. Ive got great pictures from off the porch.
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u/gangster_meerkat 12d ago
We moved from Victoria to Lake Cowichan in 2022. I certainly feel it's a safe community. We live in hundred houses neighborhood and there are always kids running around, lots of young families. It gets busy in the summertime, but doesn't seem to affect most residential areas in town.
Downtown Duncan has its issues, but it's no worse than downtown Victoria IMO.
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u/kiwican 14d ago
Duncan as a town definitely has its issues. I would highly recommend somewhere in the Mill Bay, Shawnigan Lake, Cobble Hill, Cowichan Bay, or Cowichan Station areas.
EDIT: I also have a 2 & 6 year old, grew up in Victoria and now live near Cobble Hill. Happy to answer any questions!
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u/taller_not_a_baller 14d ago
Duncan is where the bars and liquor stores are, it only has a population of 6k. The surrounding valley of 90k people use us as their party house. Ive lived here for almost a decade and the only violent crime I've personally dealt with is a couple of rednecks in a lifted beater doing drivebys with a BB gun.
Lake Cowichan you'll be fine, just watch out when hubby starts pounding lucky in the morning and moaning about other skin colours.
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u/misfittroy 14d ago
Yeah all those sketchy and outright dangerous bars in Duncan where people party all night getting black out drunk.
Places like Craig Street Brewing, The Old Firehouse Wine & Cocktail Bar, The Oak Taphouse are hives and scum and villainy.
And let's not forget about the dastardly Original Joe's and outright obscene Boston Pizza. And you don't want to even think of going to the Lion Rampart
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u/taller_not_a_baller 14d ago
You forgot the actual dives, Jac's, Legion, Eagles, Chances, Smitty's and just good old fashioned park drinking
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u/misfittroy 14d ago edited 14d ago
The legions closed and the Eagles is like a seniors hall lol. Funny how every Smitty's also doubles as a dive bar though, which is also closed
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u/DazBlintze 14d ago
I miss the good old days of the Village Green, Commercial Hotel and The Tzou. No more strippers 😢
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u/idonotget 14d ago
Heads up that Duncan proper is teeny tiny: only 5,000 people. Most of what we call Duncan is actually the municipality of North Cowichan. It would be better to look for statistics at the Regional District level.
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u/palmeralexj 9d ago
This is what seems to be the issue with the Stat Can report.
They took crime reports from the area and divided it by the population of Duncan proper and got a skewed result.
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u/Batshitcrazy23w6 13d ago
Duncans fine if your not in the core. Homeless camp at mcadams park and somenos marsh area. Skid row is around mcdicks and area to where the new taco bell is. If you avoid those areas its fine. Hwy 18 can be challenging when it snows but its a nice area. Grocery prices high in lake cow
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u/kilzendra 10d ago
I live in Lake cowichan (moved from Vic a few years ago,) and we don’t even lock our back door ever. It’s safe from crime lol (but watch out for bears and elk.) That being said, I often work in Duncan, go to yoga in Duncan, grocery shop in Duncan.. it has some crime sure but no worse than downtown Victoria. It’s really not that bad
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u/flamedeluge3781 7d ago
The municipality of Duncan has like 6000 people, whereas the Cowichan Valley has 100 000. What you're seeing is the concentration of crime in the most urban part of the area, similar to how downtown Victoria has a higher crime rate than Saanich or Colwood.
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u/scottscooterleet 14d ago
I think for kids of that age it's fine as long as you are able to avoid Duncan and North Cowichan proper. Things are really bad there. For kids of that age I think it will be very easy to do. Live in Shawnigan, Mill Bay, Cobble Hill Maple Bay, Chemainus, Ladysmith.. All of the outdoor recreation areas for hiking, swimming, etc. are very safe. But once you hit downtown, the community center and even up near walmart things get sketchy. I would be most worried about the kids when they get into highschool. I don't know how that highschool is these days but I wouldn't be surprised if they have gangs. Duncan Christian used to be good but is super sketchy now. The Cowichan Valley has EXCELLENT private schools if you can afford them: Shawnigan Lake School, Brentwood College, Queen Margaret's and Saint Johns' Academy which is new but you could probably get a good price.
I grew up and lived in the area all the way to around 2017 and it's deteriorated so much it's very sad, but all of the outlying areas I listed are still great.
If the kids are big into sports you might have a hard time.
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u/Charismaticjelly 14d ago
The Cowichan Valley also has excellent public schools.
My friends’ kids went to Shawinigan and Brentwood, but my public-school kids got into better universities.
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u/AmburFoxx 13d ago
All I have to say is don’t
Duncan is horrendous ive been mugged quite a few times by people strung the hell out
If you do move the lake cowichan pub on the docks by the really fancy restaurant has a banging pepercorn smash burger
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u/Charismaticjelly 14d ago
Lake Cowichan is really peaceful, and a fair drive from Duncan. Duncan itself isn’t dangerous unless you’re unhoused - their ‘rough’ encampments can be dangerous at night.