Wait, have you actually been to Vancouver before? Vancouver has one of the higher crime rates for a North American city and is quite noted for it, Seattle is much lower. Also, Kirkland doesn't have suburbs (it is one), and totem lake isn't that bad.

http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/wa/seattle/crime/ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-cri...