The Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) is a regional district in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

of British Columbia, Canada. In the 2016 census, the population was 60,439. 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 Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

and Fernie, and the district municipality of Invermere and

Sparwood Sparwood is a district municipality in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the second-largest community on the Elk River. Located approximately 30 kilometres from Fernie, the District Municipality of Sparwood has approximately 4,2 ...

. 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 Kootenay Lake is a lake located in British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Kootenay River. The lake has been raised by the Corra Linn Dam and has a dike system at the southern end, which, along with industry in the 1950s–70s, has changed th ...

Geography

The regional district's dominant landform is the

Rocky Mountain Trench The Rocky Mountain Trench, also known as the Valley of a Thousand Peaks or simply the Trench, is a large valley on the western side of the northern part of North America's Rocky Mountains. The Trench is both visually and cartographically a s ...

, 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 Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

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 River The Yaak River (spelled Yahk River in Canada) is a tributary of the Kootenai River in Montana. Course The Yaak River originates near Yahk Mountain, in the Yahk Range, part of the Purcell Mountains, in southeast British Columbia. The river flow ...

s (the Moyie and Yahk are tributaries of the Kootenay, entering it in the United States, and the Flathead is a tributary of the Clark Fork in Montana).

Demographics

As a

census division Census divisions, in Canada and the United States of America, United States, are areas delineated for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation; they have no government in and of themselves. The census divisions of Canada are second-lev ...

in the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, 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.

Municipalities

Health care

The largest hospital in the region is the

East Kootenay Regional Hospital Cranbrook ( ) is a city in southeast British Columbia, Canada, located on the west side of the Kootenay River at its confluence with the St. Mary's River. It is the largest urban centre in the region known as the East Kootenay. As of 2016 File: ...

in Cranbrook. There are also hospitals in Creston (Creston Valley Hospital), Fernie (Elk Valley Hospital), Invermere (Invermere & District Hospital), and Golden (Golden & 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 The Ktunaxa Nation or Ktunaxa Nation Council is a First Nations in Canada, First Nations tribal council government comprising four Ktunaxa (Kutenai) bands in the south-east of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of three Kutenai gov ...

. There are currently four bands

Columbia Lake First Nation Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

near Windermere,

Lower Kootenay First Nation The Lower Kootenay First Nation ( kut, Yaqan nuʔkiy Band) are a First Nation based in the East Kootenay region of British Columbia. In the British Columbia Treaty Process They are part of the Ktunaxa Kinbasket Tribal Council. Treaty process Th ...

near Creston,

St. Mary's First Nation St. Mary's Band or St. Mary's First Nations in Canada, First Nation ( pqm, Sitansisk Wolastoqiyik) is one of six Wolastoqiyik or Maliseet Nations on the Saint John River (New Brunswick), Saint John River in Canada. The St. Mary's Band lands comp ...

near Cranbrook, and

Tobacco Plains First Nation The Tobacco Plains Indian Band (Ktunaxa: ʔakink̓umⱡasnuqⱡiʔit ) are a First Nation based in the East Kootenay region of British Columbia. In the British Columbia Treaty Process They are part of the Ktunaxa Kinbasket Tribal Council. C ...

near Grasmere.

References

Census Profile, 2016 Census, East Kootenay

External links

* * Regional District of East Kootenay, East Kootenay {{EastKootenay-geo-stub