Kootenay consumer insolvencies jump nearly 22% in a year
Consumer insolvencies across the Kootenays rose 21.9 per cent over the 12 months ending June 30, according to federal data.
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Consumer insolvencies across the Kootenays have jumped nearly 22 per cent in a year, with hundreds of people turning to bankruptcy or formal debt-repayment proposals.
Figures from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy show 473 consumer insolvencies were filed in the Kootenay economic region during the 12 months ending June 30, 2026.
That is up 21.9 per cent from 388 during the previous 12-month period.
The Kootenay economic region includes East Kootenay, Central Kootenay and Kootenay Boundary, covering communities such as Grand Forks, Greenwood, Midway and Christina Lake.
The increase was steeper than the provincial rise.
Across B.C., 16,334 consumer insolvencies were recorded during the same 12-month period, up 14.9 per cent from 14,222 a year earlier.
From April through June alone, 4,207 British Columbians filed a consumer insolvency, 10.9 per cent more than during the second quarter of 2025.
Consumer insolvencies include bankruptcies and consumer proposals. A proposal allows someone to make a formal offer to repay part of what they owe, extend the repayment period, or both.
Proposals accounted for most B.C. filings in the second quarter.
There were 3,526 consumer proposals, up from 3,146 a year earlier, while bankruptcies rose to 681 from 648.
The Kootenay increase also exceeded the rise in the Thompson-Okanagan, where 2,136 consumer insolvencies were recorded during the 12 months ending June 30, up 9.7 per cent from the previous year.
The latest numbers continue a trend seen earlier this year.
The Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals reported that B.C. had the largest year-over-year increase in consumer insolvencies among the provinces during the first quarter of 2026.
B.C. recorded 4,234 consumer filings from January through March, up 16.2 per cent from the same quarter in 2025.
Nationally, consumer insolvencies climbed again in the second quarter, reaching 37,523 filings. That was higher than the first-quarter total of 37,121, which had already been the highest quarterly level since 2009.
CAIRP has pointed to high household debt, rising living costs and economic uncertainty as pressures that can leave consumers more vulnerable when faced with job loss, rent increases or unexpected expenses.
The federal insolvency figures do not show why individual consumers filed.
B.C. recorded 16,609 consumer and business insolvencies combined during the 12 months ending June 30, up 14.3 per cent from the previous 12 months.
Consumer cases accounted for more than 98 per cent of that total.
The latest quarterly figures were released Aug. 10.
B.C. manufacturers facing a new 50 per cent U.S. tariff received an eleventh-hour reprieve Tuesday night after the United States postponed the measure for three days while Canada and the U.S. try to finalize a trade agreement.