Moving Here

Thinking about moving to Sparwood? There's endless reasons why you should: a great community spirit, exceptional location and incredible lifestyle opportunities. Take a look at some of the great amenities and services our community has to offer!

Education

Sparwood is located within School District #5 (Southeast Kootenay) and offers a comprehensive range of education opportunities.

• Frank J. Mitchell Elementary – K – 6
• Sparwood Secondary School – 7-12
• College of the Rockies – College of the Rockies main campus is located in Cranbrook with satellite campuses in Creston, Fernie, Golden, Kimberley and Invermere.
• The University of Lethbridge in Alberta – located just a couple hours away.

Health Services

For quality of life and quality of health, Sparwood is among the finest. Our community is located within the district of the Interior Health Authority and provides a good selection of health and care services.
Sparwood Health Care Centre supports 4 physicians. It also provides services such as emergency room, labs, dialysis, radiology, medical clinic, and a wellness centre.

Sparwood Health Unit Is located in the Health Care Centre. This health unit is for community health care providing public health nurses, new baby information, adult mental health program, environmental health work, assessments, home nursing care, alcohol/drug treatment and immunization.

Elk Valley Hospital, a fully serviced facility, is only 20 minutes away in Fernie and is the closest regional hospital. Just a little further west is the East Kootenay Regional Hospital, in Cranbrook, and it provides core medical and surgical specialty services.

Government Services

Sparwood has three level of government services - local, provincial and federal.

The District of Sparwood and Regional District of East Kootenay provide a number of services for the Sparwood area. The Sparwood Fire Department has a full time Chief and 34 paid on-call firefighters operating out of two fire halls.

Provincial Government services are provided at the Service BC office. Other provincial government departments have local offices in Sparwood through independent contractors including Ambulance Services, Mental Health Care, Motor License Office, Provincial Elections – Registrar of Voters and Liquor Distribution.

Federal Government services include Canada Post, Human Resources Development Centre (based in Cranbrook) and Elk Valley Detachment – Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Financial Services

Sparwood's financial sector is served by the CIBC and Royal Bank of Canada.

Electricity & Natural Gas

Sparwood's utilities are provided by B.C. Hydro and Terasen gas.

Municipal Services

The District of Sparwood provides water, sewer, street lighting, recycling and garbage collection. Residential weekly garbage pick-up is provided with higher frequency in commercial areas where necessary. Recycling drop-off depots are located throughout town.

Drinking Water

Our drinking water is some of the best in the world! Sparwood’s water is chlorine free and is supplied by three town wells. The system is designed to accommodate a population of 6,000. In 2006, the District of Sparwood won a bronze medal for the best Municipal Water at the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting Competition.

Telephone Service

Telus and Shaw provide landline local phone service throughout the region. A range of carriers provide long distance and cellular services.

Internet Services

Broadband service is provided by Elk Valley Networks, Telus and Shaw.

Media

Local television stations include CBC, CTV – (CFCN) Lethbridge CISA.
Local radio stations include The Drive, CBC FM, and CBC-AM from Vancouver.

Local Newspapers include: The Fernie Free Press, Kootenay Advertiser and Black Rock News.