The Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) is a regional district in the Canadian province of British Columbia, Canada. In the 2021 census, the population was 65,896. Its area is . The regional district offices are in Cranbrook, the largest community in the region. Other important population centres include the cities of Kimberley and Fernie, and the district municipalities of Invermere and Sparwood. Despite its name, the regional district does not include all of the region known as the East Kootenay, which includes the Creston Valley and the east shore of Kootenay Lake.

Geography

The regional district's dominant landform is the Rocky Mountain Trench, which is flanked by the Purcell Mountains and Rocky Mountains on the east and west, and includes the Columbia Valley region, the southern half of which is in the regional district (its northern half is in the Columbia-Shuswap Regional District). Another distinct area within the regional district is the Elk Valley in the southern Rockies, which is the entrance to the Crowsnest Pass and an important coal-mining region. Other than the Columbia and Kootenay Rivers, whose valleys form the bottomlands of the Rocky Mountain Trench, also included in the regional district are the northernmost parts of the basins of the Flathead, Moyie and Yahk Rivers (the Moyie and Yahk are tributaries of the Kootenay, flowing into it in the United States, and the Flathead is a tributary of the Clark Fork in Montana).

Demographics As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Regional District of East Kootenay had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

+ Panethnic groups in the East Kootenay Regional District (1996−2021)Panethnicgroup202120162011200620011996 European 55,750 52,340 50,385 50,520 51,740 52,560 Indigenous 5,495 4,705 3,780 3,425 2,890 2,110 Southeast Asian 840 550 285 130 275 155 South Asian 825 355 250 150 300 350 East Asian 780 670 545 485 420 505 African 395 305 165 50 155 115 Latin American 190 145 90 15 70 50 Middle Eastern 25 60 0 70 0 10 Other 100 110 145 30 40 125 Total responses 64,420 59,235 55,675 54,885 55,890 55,975 Total population 65,896 60,439 56,685 55,485 56,291 56,366 Note: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses.

Municipalities Municipality Government Type PopulationCranbrookcity20,047Kimberleycity 8,115Ferniecity5,249Sparwooddistrict municipality 3,784Invermeredistrict municipality3.391Jumbo Glacierformer mountain resort municipality0Elkforddistrict municipality 2,499Radium Hot Springsvillage776Canal Flatsvillage668

Health care The largest hospital in the region is the East Kootenay Regional Hospital in Cranbrook. There are also hospitals in Creston (Creston Valley Hospital), Fernie (Elk Valley Hospital), and Invermere (Invermere & District Hospital). Primary health centers are present in Sparwood and Elkford.

First Nations The First Nations people who live in the East Kootenay are from the Ktunaxa Nation and Shuswap Nation. There are currently five bands Columbia Lake First Nation near Windermere, Lower Kootenay First Nation near Creston, St. Mary's First Nation near Cranbrook, and Tobacco Plains First Nation near Grasmere, and the Shuswap Indian Band near Invermere.

See also Findlay Creek

Notes

References

External links