Post by Freddie on Jul 24, 2021 16:50:50 GMT 1
đ The Global Network đ
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
"Mountie" redirects here. For other uses, see Mountie (disambiguation).
"RCMP" redirects here. For the TV series, see R.C.M.P. (TV series).
"Royal Mounted Police" redirects here. For the film, see Giubbe rosse.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Gendarmerie royale du Canada (French)
Badge of the RCMP[1]
Badge of the RCMP[1]
Corps ensign[2]
Corps ensign[2]
Abbreviation RCMP/GRC
Motto Maintiens le droit
(French for "Defend the law") [3]
Agency overview
Formed 1 February 1920; 101 years ago[4]
Preceding agencies
Royal Northwest Mounted Police (RNWMP) (1904)
North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) (23 May 1873)
Dominion Police (1868)
Employees 30,092 (2019)
Volunteers Approximately 1,600 Auxiliary Constables[5]
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction Canada
Constituting instruments
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act (RCMP Act)
Various provincial police legislation
General nature
Gendarmerie
Local civilian police
Operational structure
Headquarters M. J. Nadon Government of Canada Building
73 Leikin Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R2[6]
Sworn members
18,986[7] (Apr. 2019)
Unsworn members
11,210[7] (Apr. 2019)
Minister responsible
Bill Blair, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Agency executive
Brenda Lucki, Commissioner
Parent agency Public Safety Canada
Divisions
15[7]
Facilities
Detachments
712[8]
Vehicles
8,677
Boats 5
Fixed-wings 26[9]
Helicopters 8[9]
Notables
Significant incidents
Mayerthorpe tragedy
Spiritwood Incident
Moncton shooting
2020 Nova Scotia attacks
Awards
Battle honours
Canadian Newsmaker of the Year (2007)
Website
rcmp-grc.gc.ca Edit this at Wikidata
While a federal agency, the RCMP also serves as the local law enforcement agency for various provincial, municipal, and First Nations jurisdictions.[10]
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; French: Gendarmerie royale du Canada (GRC)), colloquially known as the Mounties, are the federal and national police service of Canada, providing law enforcement at the federal level. The RCMP also provide provincial policing in eight of Canada's provinces (all except Ontario and Quebec) and local policing on a contract basis in the three territories (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon) and more than 150 municipalities, 600 Indigenous communities, and three international airports. The RCMP do not provide active provincial or municipal policing in Ontario or Quebec.[10] However, all members of the RCMP have jurisdiction as a peace officer in all provinces and territories of Canada.[11] Despite the name, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are no longer an actual mounted police service, with horses only being used at ceremonial events.
As Canada's national police service, the RCMP are primarily responsible for enforcing federal laws throughout Canada, whereas general law and order including the enforcement of the Criminal Code and applicable provincial legislation is constitutionally the responsibility of the provinces and territories. Larger cities may form their own municipal police departments.
The two most populous provinces, Ontario and Quebec, maintain provincial forces: the Ontario Provincial Police and the Sûreté du Québec. The other eight provinces contract policing responsibilities to the RCMP, which provides front-line policing in those provinces under the direction of the provincial governments. When Newfoundland joined the confederation in 1949, the RCMP entered the province and absorbed the Newfoundland Ranger Force, which patrolled most of Newfoundland's rural areas. The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary patrols urban areas of the province. In the territories, the RCMP is the sole territorial police force. Many municipalities throughout Canada contract to the RCMP. Thus, the RCMP polices at the federal, provincial, and municipal level. In some areas of Canada, it is the only police force.
The RCMP is responsible for an unusually large breadth of duties. Under their federal mandate, the RCMP police throughout Canada, including Ontario and Quebec (albeit on smaller scales there). Federal operations include: enforcing federal laws including commercial crime, counterfeiting, drug trafficking, border integrity (excluding border control responsibilities exercised by the Canada Border Services Agency), organized crime, and other related matters; providing counter-terrorism and domestic security; providing protection services for the Canadian monarch, governor general, prime minister, their families and residences, and other ministers of the Crown, visiting dignitaries, and diplomatic missions; and participating in various international policing efforts.
Under provincial and municipal contracts the RCMP provides front-line policing in all areas outside of Ontario and Quebec that do not have an established local police force. There are detachments located in small villages in the far north, remote First Nations reserves, and rural towns, but also larger cities such as Surrey, British Columbia (population 468,251). There, support units investigate for their own detachments, and smaller municipal police forces. Investigations include major crimes, homicides, forensic identification, collision forensics, police dogs, emergency response teams, explosives disposal, and undercover operations. Under its National Police Services branch the RCMP supports all police forces in Canada via the Canadian Police Information Centre, Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, Forensic Science and Identification Services, Canadian Firearms Program, and the Canadian Police College.
Contents
1 History
1.1 Founding
1.2 Post-war
1.2.1 RCMP Security Service
1.3 Modern era
1.4 Notable cases
2 History of the RCMP uniform
2.1 Tunic
2.2 Hat
2.3 Breeches
2.4 Boots
2.5 Spurs
2.6 Sidearms
2.7 Operational uniform
2.8 Decorations
3 Women in the RCMP
4 Military status
4.1 Service in wartime
4.2 Honours
5 Legacy
6 Organization
6.1 International
6.2 National
6.3 Divisions
6.4 Detachments
6.5 Personal Protection Group
7 Personnel
7.1 Regular members
7.2 Auxiliary constables and other staff
7.3 Ranks
7.4 Honorary positions
8 Equipment and vehicles
8.1 Land fleet
8.2 Marine craft
8.3 Aircraft fleet
8.4 Weapons and intervention options
8.4.1 Past weapons and intervention options
8.4.2 Ceremonial weapons and symbols of office
9 Popular awareness
9.1 Early depictions
9.2 Modern culture
9.3 Mountie merchandise and trademark
9.4 RCMP Bands
9.5 RCMP Tartan
10 Controversies and criticism
11 See also
12 Notes
13 References
14 External links
History
Founding
Main article: North-West Mounted Police § history
North-West Mounted Police trooper, c.1900
It was Prime Minister John A. Macdonald who first began planning a permanent force to patrol the North-West Territories after the Dominion of Canada purchased the territory from the Hudson's Bay Company. Macdonald received his inspiration for the creation of the RCMP from the Royal Irish Constabulary, the quasi-military colonial British occupation force of Ireland from 1822 to 1922. Modelled after the RIC, the forerunner of the RCMP, the North West Mounted Police from the outset enforced territorial acquisitions[12] of Canada's westward expansion and served alongside British imperial forces internationally[13][14][15] Reports from army officers surveying the territory led to the recommendation that a mounted force of between 100 to 150 mounted riflemen could maintain law and order. The prime minister first announced the force as the "North West Mounted Rifles". Officials in the United States raised concerns that an armed force along the border was a prelude to a military buildup. Macdonald then renamed the force the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) when formed in 1873.[16]
The force added "royal" to its name in 1904, after having been awarded the title for military service in the Second Boer War. It merged with the Dominion Police, the main police force for all points east of Manitoba, in 1920 and was renamed the "Royal Canadian Mounted Police". The new organization was charged with federal law enforcement in all the provinces and territories, and immediately established its modern role as protector of Canadian national security, as well as assuming responsibility for national counterintelligence.
As part of its national security and intelligence functions, the RCMP infiltrated ethnic or political groups considered to be dangerous to Canada. This included the Communist Party of Canada, but also a variety of Indigenous, minority cultural and nationalist groups.[13] The force was also deeply involved in immigration matters, and especially deportations of suspected radicals. They were especially concerned with Ukrainian groups, both nationalist and socialist.[17] The Chinese community was also targeted because of disproportionate links to opium dens. Historians estimate fully two percent of the Chinese community was deported between 1923 and 1932, largely under the provisions of the Opium and Narcotics Drugs Act.[18] Besides the RCMP's new responsibilities in intelligence, drugs enforcement, and immigration, the force also assisted numerous other federal agencies with tasks such as enforcing attendance of Indigenous children at schools within the Canadian Indian residential school system schools, designed to assimilate them into the dominant Canadian culture.
Mountie, c.1935
In 1935, the RCMP, collaborating with the Regina Police Service, crushed the On-to-Ottawa Trek by sparking the Regina Riot, in which one city police officer and one protester were killed. The Trek, which had been organized to call attention to the abysmal conditions in relief camps, therefore failed to reach Ottawa, but nevertheless had profound political reverberations. The RCMP also lost four officers in Saskatchewan and Alberta that year in what became the 1935 Royal Canadian Mounted Police Killings.
The RCMP employed special constables to assist with strikebreaking in the interwar period. For a brief period in the late 1930s, a volunteer militia group, the Legion of Frontiersmen, were affiliated with the RCMP. Many members of the RCMP belonged to this organization, which was prepared to serve as an auxiliary force. In later years, special constables performed duties such as policing airports and, in some Canadian provinces, the courthouses.
1932 saw the men, vehicles and vessels of the Customs Preventive Service, National Revenue, absorbed by the RCMP. This created the Marine Section and the Excise Section.[19] The acquisition of the RCMP schooner St. Roch facilitated the first effective patrol of Canada's Arctic territory. It was the first vessel to navigate the Northwest Passage from west to east (1940â42), the first to navigate the passage in one season (from Halifax to Vancouver in 1944), the first to sail either way through the passage in one season, and the first to circumnavigate North America (1950).[20]
Counterintelligence work was moved from the RCMP's Criminal Investigation Department to a specialized intelligence branch, the RCMP Security Service, in 1939.
Post-war
On April 1, 1949, Newfoundland joined in full confederation with Canada and the Newfoundland Ranger Force amalgamated with the RCMP.
Following the 1945 defection of Soviet cipher clerk, Igor Gouzenko, and his revelations of espionage, the RCMP Security Service implemented measures to screen out "subversive" elements from the public sector.[21]
In June 1953, the RCMP became a full member of the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol).[22]
Queen Elizabeth II approved in Regina, Saskatchewan, on July 4, 1973, a new badge for the RCMP, in recognition of which the force presented the sovereign with a tapestry rendering of the new design.[23]
RCMP Security Service
The RCMP Security Service was a specialized political intelligence and counterintelligence branch with national security responsibilities, replaced by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in 1984, following revelations of illegal covert operations relating to the Quebec separatist movement.[24] CSIS is not part of the RCMP, but is its own entity. In the late 1970s, revelations surfaced that the RCMP Security Service force had in the course of their intelligence duties engaged in crimes such as burning a barn and stealing documents from the separatist Parti Québécois, and other abuses. This led to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Certain Activities of the RCMP, better known as the "McDonald Commission", named for the presiding judge, Justice David Cargill McDonald. The commission recommended that the force's intelligence duties be removed in favour of the creation of a separate intelligence agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. The RCMP and CSIS nonetheless continue to share responsibility for some law enforcement activities in the contemporary era, particularly in the anti-terrorism context.[25]
Modern era
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Sunset Ceremony 2012
In 1993, the Special Emergency Response Team (SERT), were transferred to the Canadian Forces (CF), creating a new unit called Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2). JTF2 inherited some equipment and SERT's former training base near Ottawa.
In 2006, the United States Coast Guard's Ninth District and the RCMP began a program called "Shiprider", in which 12 Mounties from the RCMP detachment at Windsor and 16 US Coast Guard boarding officers from stations in Michigan ride in each other's vessels. The intent is to allow for seamless enforcement of the international border.[26]
On December 6, 2006, RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli resigned after admitting that his earlier testimony about the Maher Arar terrorist case was inaccurate. The RCMP's actions were scrutinized by the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar. In the aftermath of the Arar affair, the Commission of Inquiry recommended that the RCMP be subject to greater oversight from a review board with investigative and information-sharing capacities.[27] Following the Commission of Inquiry's recommendations, the Harper government tabled amendments to the RCMP Act to create the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission.[27]
Two officers were found guilty of perjury and sentenced to jail for their actions in the 2007 Robert DziekaĆski Taser incident in Vancouver.
In 2007, the RCMP was named Newsmaker of the Year by The Canadian Press.[28]
On June 3, 2013, the RCMP renamed its 'A' Division to National Division and tasked it with handling corruption cases "at home and abroad".[29]
The RCMP also has an aviation security division, the Sky Marshals.[30]
Notable cases
The American stagecoach robber Bill Miner was captured by the RCMP in 1906.[31]
Albert Johnson, known as the Mad Trapper of Rat River, was killed in a shoot-out with the RCMP in 1932.[31]
RCMP officers in Saskatchewan arrested the perpetrator of the Shell Lake murders in 1967.
Anarchist militants known as the Squamish Five were arrested by the RCMP in 1983.
The suspected driver of the reconnaissance vehicle involved in the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing fled to Canada where he was arrested by the RCMP in the winter of 1997 and was extradited to the United States.
Four RCMP officers were fatally shot during an operation in Alberta in March 2005: the Mayerthorpe tragedy was the single worst multiple killing of RCMP officers since the killing of 3 officers in Kamloops British Columbia by a mentally ill assailant in June 1962. Prior to that the RCMP had not felt such a loss since the North-West Rebellion.[32]
In July 2007, two RCMP officers were shot dead in the Spiritwood Incident near Mildred, Saskatchewan.
Three RCMP officers were murdered during the Moncton shooting in New Brunswick in June 2014.[33]
The perpetrator of the 2014 shootings at Parliament Hill, Ottawa was shot and killed at the scene by the RCMP.
RCMP Constable Heidi Stevenson was killed while responding to a mass shooting that left over 20 people dead in Nova Scotia in April 2020.
History of the RCMP uniform
RCMP in dress uniform Canada Day 2015 on Saint Catherine Street, Montreal
The RCMP are famous for their distinctive dress uniform, or "review order", popularly known as the "Red Serge." It has a high collared scarlet tunic, midnight blue breeches with yellow leg stripe, Sam Browne belt with white sidearm lanyard, oxblood riding boots (possibly with spurs), brown felt campaign hat (wide, flat brimmed) with the characteristic "Montana crease", and brown gloves (with brown leather gauntlets for riders). Members wear the review order during the Musical Ride, an equestrian drill in which mounted members show their riding skills and handling of the cavalry lance. On normal duties, the RCMP uses standard police methods, equipment, and uniforms. The RCMP uses horses for ceremonial operations such as escorting the governor general's open landau to the opening of Parliament.
Tunic
The Red Serge tunic that identified the NWMP and later the RNWMP and RCMP, is the standard British military pattern. In the original version, worn from 1873 to 1876, it was based on the civilian Norfolk jacket.[34][35] Originally kitted from militia stores, the NWMP later adopted a standard style that emphasized the force's British heritage and differentiated it from the blue American military uniforms. In 1904, dark blue shoulder straps and collars replaced the uniform's scarlet facings[36] when King Edward VII granted the force "Royal" status for its service in the Second Boer War. Today, RCMP personnel under the rank of inspector wear blue "gorget" patches on the collar, while officers from inspector to commissioner wear solid blue collars and blue pointed-sleeve cuffs.
Members once wore a white haversack on top of this jacket and white gauntlets,[35] which contrasted with the red tunic. The modern dress uniform replaces these easily dirtied items with brown leather riding gloves and carrying pouches on the belt.
Hat
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Although the NWMP contingent at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee wore the campaign hat, it only became official in 1904.
A campaign hat is a broad-brimmed felt or straw hat, with a high crown, pinched symmetrically at the four corners (Montana crown).
The hat is most commonly worn as part of a uniform by such agencies as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the New Zealand Army, United States Park Rangers, and Scouts. The RCMP did not adopt it until about 1904. The original primary summer headdress was the white British foreign service helmet, also known as a pith helmet. This was an impractical choice for the Canadian west,[why?] and RCMP members wore a Stetson type hat on patrol and around camp. Sam Steele is often credited with introducing the Stetson-type hat, and when he left the force to command Lord Strathcona's Horse in South Africa, his unit adopted the Stetson. During winter, members wore a Canadian military fur wedge cap or busby. In British Columbia, the hat features a black bearskin rim belt. They are required to wear the hat while on duty or at ceromonies.
Breeches
The NWMP wore buff or steel grey breeches until they adopted dark blue breeches with yellow-gold strapping (stripes) in 1876.[37] Members often exchanged kit with U.S. cavalry units, and while some believe this was the source for the breeches, the NWMP considered adopting blue breeches with a white strap. Dark blue with yellow-gold strapping is a British cavalry tradition, and most cavalry (later armoured) regiments' dress uniforms feature yellow stripes.
Boots
Black riding boots changed to the modern brown style called "Strathcona boots" or informally as "high browns" and the original crossbelts changed to the brown Sam Browne type. The brown colour of the boots and belt the RCMP wear with the Red Serge are from members who applied coats of polish, often during training at Depot Division.
Spurs
The RCMP's original spurs, known as "long shank spurs," were solid nickel. Their owners occasionally had their regimental number engraved on the inside, and some replaced the rowel with a US buffalo nickel[citation needed] to complement the Mounted Police capbadge and avoid using a Canadian coin that would deface the monarch. The RCMP last issued long shank spurs in 1968.
Sidearms
Sidearms are standard now, but were often not worn in the early years.[citation needed]
Operational uniform
RCMP in everyday uniform
Closeup of shoulder flash on sleeve of operational uniform
The operational uniform is a grey shirt, dark blue trousers with gold stripping, regular patrol boots called "ankle boots", regular duty equipment, and a regular policeman's style cap. Members on operational duty wear a blue Gore-Tex open-collar jacket (patrol jacket), while sergeants major and certain non-commissioned officers (NCOs) involved in recruit training or media relations wear a dark blue jacket (blue serge). Depending on their duties, officers wear white shirts and the patrol jacket or blue serge. During the summer, officers wear a short-sleeved shirt. Winter dress is a long-sleeved shirt. A tie is worn on occasion for events such as testifying in court. In colder weather, members may wear heavier boots, winter coats (storm coats) and a muskrat fur cap or wool toque.
In 1990, Baltej Singh Dhillon became the RCMP's first Sikh officer to be allowed to wear a turban instead of the traditional Stetson.[38] On March 15, the federal government, despite protests, decided they would allow Sikhs to wear their religious headgear while on duty as RCMP officers, as had been the practice for Sikh members of Canadian Forces for decades.
Decorations
The monarch awards the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Long Service Medal to members who have completed 20 years' service. A clasp is awarded for each successive 5 years to 40 years. Members also receive a service badge star for each five years' service, which is worn on the left sleeve. There are specialist insignia for positions such as first aid instructor and dog handler, and pilot's wings are worn by aviators. Sharpshooter badges for proficiency in pistol or rifle shooting are each awarded in two grades.[39]
Women in the RCMP
In the 1920s, Saskatchewan provincial pathologist Frances Gertrude McGill began providing forensic assistance to the RCMP in their investigations.[40] She helped establish the first RCMP forensic laboratory in 1937,[41] and later served as its director for several years. In addition to her forensic work, McGill also provided training to new RCMP and police recruits in forensic detection methods.[40] Upon her retirement in 1946, McGill was appointed honorary surgeon to the RCMP, and continued to act as a dedicated consultant for the force up until her death in 1959.[42]
On May 23, 1974, RCMP Commissioner Maurice Nadon announced that the RCMP would accept applications from women as regular members of the force. Troop 17 was the first group of 32 women at Depot in Regina on September 18 and 19, 1974 for regular training. This first all-female troop graduated from Depot on March 3, 1975.
RCMP officer, 2011
After initially wearing different uniforms, female officers were finally issued the standard RCMP uniforms. Now all officers are identically attired, with two exceptions. The ceremonial dress uniform, or "walking-out order", for female members has a long, blue skirt and higher-heeled slip-on pumps plus small black clutch purse (however, in 2012 the RCMP began to allow women to wear trousers and boots with all their formal uniforms.[43]) The second exception is the official maternity uniform for pregnant female officers assigned to administrative duties.
The following years saw the first women attain certain positions.
1981: corporal, musical ride
1987: foreign post
1990: detachment commander
1992: commissioned officer
1998: assistant commissioner
2000: deputy commissioner
2006: interim commissioner[44][45][note 1]
2018: permanent commissioner[46]
Military status
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Gendarmerie royale du Canada
Guidon Royal Canadian Mounted Police.JPG
Guidon of the RCMP
Active 1873âpresent
Country Canada
Type Dragoons
Size 15 divisions
Garrison/HQ RHQâOttawa
Nickname(s) The "Mounties"
Motto(s) Maintiens le droit (Defending the law, Maintain the right)[47][48][49]
Battle honours see Battle honours
Commanders
Commissioner Brenda Lucki
Commissioner-in-chief The Queen
Honorary commissioner The Prince of Wales[50]
Honorary deputy commissioner The Earl of Wessex[51]
Honorary deputy commissioner The Princess Royal[52]
Insignia
Tartan RCMP
Abbreviation RCMP/GRC
Although the RCMP is a civilian police force, in 1921, following the service of many of its members during the First World War, King George V awarded the force the status of a regiment of dragoons, entitling it to display the battle honours it had been awarded.
Service in wartime
During the Second Boer War, members of the North-West Mounted Police were given leaves of absence to join the 2nd Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles (CMR) and Strathcona's Horse. The force raised the Canadian Mounted Rifles, mostly from NWMP members, for service in South Africa. For the CMR's distinguished service there, King Edward VII honoured the NWMP by changing the name to the "Royal Northwest Mounted Police" (RNWMP) on June 24, 1904.
During the First World War, the Royal Northwest Mounted Police (RNWMP) conducted border patrols, surveillance of enemy aliens, and enforcement of national security regulations within Canada. However, RNWMP officers also served overseas. On August 6, 1914, a squadron of volunteers from the RNWMP was formed to serve with the Canadian Light Horse in France. In 1918, two more squadrons were raised, A Squadron for service in France and Flanders and B Squadron for service in the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force.
In September 1939, at the outset of the Second World War, the Canadian Army had no military police. Five days after war was declared the Royal Canadian Mounted Police received permission to form a provost company of force volunteers. It was designated "No. 1 Provost Company (RCMP)", and became the Canadian Provost Corps. Six months after war was declared its members were overseas in Europe and served throughout the Second World War as military police.
Honours
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were accorded the status of a regiment of dragoons in 1921. As a cavalry regiment, the RCMP was entitled to wear battle honours for its war service as well as carry a guidon, with its first guidon presented in 1935.[53][54] The RCMP mounted the King's Life Guard at Horse Guards Parade in 1937 leading up to the coronation of King George VI. The RCMP mounted the Queen's Life Guard in May 2012 during celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.[55]
Battle honours
North West Canada 1885
South Africa 1900â02
The Great War: France and Flanders 1918, Siberia 1918â19
The Second World War: Europe, 1939â45
Honorary distinction:
The badge of the Canadian Provost Corps (Military Police), presented September 21, 1957, at a Parliament Hill ceremony for contributions to the Corps during the Second World War
Legacy
In 1975, the RCMP dedicated a memorial beside the Fred Light Museum in Battleford, Saskatchewan, consisting of a cemetery with gate, cairn and list of honour plaque to the members of the North-West Mounted Police (1873â1904) and the RCMP.[56]
Organization
International
The RCMP International Operations Branch (IOB) assists the Liaison Officer (LO) Program to deter international crime relating to Canadian criminal laws. The IOB is a section of the International Policing, which is part of the RCMP Federal and International Operations Directorate. Thirty-seven Liaison Officers are placed in 23 other countries and are responsible for organizing Canadian investigations in other countries, developing and maintaining the exchange of criminal intelligence, especially national security with other countries, to provide assistance in investigations that directly affect Canada, to coordinate and assist RCMP officers on foreign business and to represent the RCMP at international meetings.[57] Liaison Officers are located in:
Africa & Middle East:
Morocco Rabat, Morocco
South Africa Pretoria, South Africa
Jordan Amman, Jordan
United Arab Emirates Dubai, U.A.E.
Asia-Pacific:
India New Delhi, India
Pakistan Islamabad, Pakistan
Thailand Bangkok, Thailand
Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR
China Beijing, China
Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Sri Lanka Colombo, Sri Lanka
Europe:
United Kingdom London, United Kingdom
France Paris, France
Germany Berlin, Germany
Netherlands The Hague, Netherlands
Italy Rome, Italy
The Americas:
Jamaica Kingston, Jamaica
Mexico Mexico City, Mexico
Colombia Bogota, Colombia
Venezuela Caracas, Venezuela
Brazil Brasilia, Brazil
Dominican Republic Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Trinidad and Tobago Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
United States:
Florida Miami, Florida
New York (state) New York, New York
Washington (state) Seattle, Washington
Washington, D.C.
The RCMP was a member agency in the Afghan Threat Finance Cell, and RCMP officers were embedded with military units in Afghanistan.[58]
National
The RCMP is organized under the authority of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act (RCMP Act), an act of the Parliament of Canada. Pursuant to sections 3 and 4 of the RCMP Act, the RCMP is a police force for Canadaânamely, a federal police force.[59] However, section 20 of the RCMP Act provides that the RCMP may be used for law enforcement in provinces or municipalities if certain conditions are met.[60] As explained by Justice Ivan Rand of the Supreme Court of Canada, "what is set up is a police force for the whole of Canada to be used in the enforcement of the laws of the Dominion, but at the same time available for the enforcement of law generally in such provinces as may desire to employ its services."[61]
Pursuant to section 5 of the RCMP Act,[62] the agency is headed by the commissioner of the RCMP, who, under the direction of the minister of public safety and emergency preparedness, has the control and management of the force and all matters connected therewith. The RCMP is provided with a senior executive committee (SEC) which[63]
is the senior decision making forum established by the Commissioner for the development and approval of strategic, force-wide policies, pursuant to and consistent with the Commissioner's authority under section 5 of the RCMP Act. The role of [the] SEC is to develop, promote and communicate strategic priorities, strategic objectives, management strategies and performance management for the purpose of direction and accountability.
The commissioner is assisted by deputy commissioners in charge of:[64]
Federal and international policing
Specialized Policing Services
National Police Services
Contract and Indigenous Policing
Human resources
East
National Division (Formerly "A" Division)
National headquarters
Newfoundland and Labrador ("B" Division)
New Brunswick ("J" Division)
Nova Scotia ("H" Division)
Ontario ("O" Division)
Prince Edward Island ("L" Division)
Quebec ("C" Division)
West
Alberta ("K" Division)
British Columbia ("E" Division)
Manitoba ("D" Division)
Northwest Territories ("G" Division)
Nunavut ("V" Division)
Saskatchewan ("F" Division)
Yukon ("M" Division)
Divisions
The RCMP divides the country into divisions for command purposes. In general, each division is coterminous with a province (for example, C Division is Quebec). The province of Ontario, however, is divided into two divisions: National Division (Ottawa) and O Division (rest of the province). There is one additional division â Depot Division, which is the RCMP Academy at Regina, Saskatchewan, and the Police Dog Service Training Centre[65] at Innisfail, Alberta. The RCMP headquarters are located in Ottawa, Ontario.
National Division building in Ottawa
National Division (formerly A Division): National Capital Region (Ottawa, Ontario, and Gatineau, Quebec)[66]
B Division: Newfoundland and Labrador[67]
C Division: Quebec[68]
D Division: Manitoba[68]
E Division: British Columbia[citation needed]
F Division: Saskatchewan[69]
G Division: Northwest Territories[70]
H Division: Nova Scotia[71]
J Division: New Brunswick[72]
K Division: Alberta[73]
L Division: Prince Edward Island[74]
M Division: Yukon[75]
O Division: Ontario[76]
V Division: Nunavut[77]
Depot Division at Regina and the Police Dog Service Training Centre[65] at Innisfail.
Detachments
A detachment is a section of the RCMP which polices a local area. Detachments vary greatly in size. The largest single RCMP detachment is in the city of Surrey in British Columbia, with over a thousand employees. Surrey has contracted with the RCMP for policing services since 1951.[78] The second-largest RCMP detachment is in Burnaby, also in British Columbia.[79] Conversely, detachments in small, isolated rural communities have as few as three officers. The RCMP formerly had many single-officer detachments in these areas,[80][81] but in 2012 the RCMP announced that it was introducing a requirement that detachments should have at least three officers.[81]
Personal Protection Group
The Personal Protection Group or PPG is a 180-member group responsible for security details for VIPs, the prime minister, and the governor general.[82] It was created after the 1995 incident at 24 Sussex Drive.[83]
Units under the PPG consists of:
Prime Minister Protective Detail provides bodyguards to protect the prime minister of Canada in Canada and abroad. This unit is based in Ottawa with operations at 24 Sussex Drive and Harrington Lake near Chelsea, Quebec.
Governor General's Protection Detail provides bodyguards to protect the governor general of Canada in Canada and abroad. This unit is based in Ottawa with operations at Rideau Hall.
Very Important Persons Security Section (VIPSS) provides security details to VIP (including the chief justice of Canada, federal ministers, and diplomats) and others under the direction of the minister of public safety.
Personnel
An RCMP chief superintendent (foreground) attends the opening of an Operational Integration Centre, alongside representatives of US counterpart agencies.
As of April 1, 2019, the RCMP employed 30,196 men and women, including police officers, civilian members, and Public Service Employees.[7]
Actual personnel strength by ranks:
Commissioners: 1
Deputy commissioners: 6
Assistant commissioners: 28
Chief superintendents: 57
Superintendents: 187
Inspectors: 322
Corps sergeants major: 1
Sergeants major: 8
Staff sergeants major: 9
Staff sergeants: 838
Sergeants: 2,018
Corporals: 3,599
Constables: 11,913
Special constables: 122
Civilian members: 7,695
Public servants: 3,403
Total: 30,196
Regular members
The term regular member, or RM, originates from the RCMP Act and refers to the 18,988 regular RCMP officers who are trained and sworn as peace officers, and include all the ranks from constable to commissioner. They are the police officers of the RCMP and are responsible for investigating crime and have the authority to make arrests. RMs operate in over 750 detachments, including 200 municipalities and more than 600 Indigenous communities. RMs are normally assigned to general policing duties at an RCMP detachment for a minimum of three years. These duties allow them to experience a broad range of assignments and experiences, such as responding to emergency (9-1-1) calls, foot patrol, bicycle patrol, traffic enforcement, collecting evidence at crime scenes, testifying in court, apprehending criminals and plain clothes duties. Regular members also serve in over 150 different types of operational and administrative opportunities available within the RCMP, these include: major crime investigations, emergency response, forensic identification, forensic collision reconstruction, international peacekeeping, bike or marine patrol, explosives disposal and police dog services. Also included are administrative roles including human resources, corporate planning, policy analysis and public affairs.
Auxiliary constables and other staff
Besides the regular RCMP officers, several types of designations exist which give them assorted powers and responsibilities over policing issues.
Currently, there are:
Community constables: Varies across Canada[citation needed]
Reserve constables : Varies across Canada[84]
Auxiliary constables: Varies across Canada[85]
Special constables: 122[7]
Civilian members: 7,590[7]
Public servants: 3,497[7]
Community constables (CC)
A designation introduced in 2014 as a replacement for the community safety officers and Indigenous community constables pilot programs.[86][87] Community constables are armed, paid members holding the rank of special constables, with peace officer power.[88] They are to provide a bridge between the local citizens and the RCMP using their local and cultural knowledge[89] They are mostly focused on crime prevention, liaisons with the community, and providing resources in the event of a large-scale event.[90]
Reserve constables (R/Cst.)
A program reinstated in 2004 in British Columbia, it was later expanded to cover all of Canada in order to allow for retired, regular RCMP members and other provincially trained officers to provide extra manpower when shortages are identified.[91] R/Cst. are appointed under Section 11 of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act as paid part-time, armed officers with the same powers as regular members.[92] However, they are not allowed to carry force-issued sidearms and use of force options unless they are called upon to duty.[91] They generally carry out community policing roles but may also be called upon if an emergency occurs.[91][93]
Auxiliary constables (A/Cst.)
Volunteers within their own community, appointed under provincial police acts.[85] They are not police officers and can not identify themselves as such. However, they are given peace officer powers when on duty with a regular member (RM). Their duties consist mainly of assisting RMs in routine events, for example cordoning off crime scene areas, crowd control, participating in community policing, assistance during situations where regular members might be overwhelmed with their duties (e.g., keeping watch of a backseat detainee while RM interviews a victim). They are identified by the wording of "RCMP Auxiliary" on cars, jackets and shoulder flashes
Special constables (S/Cst.)
Employees of the RCMP have varied duties depending on where they are deployed, but are often given this designation because of an expertise they possess which needs to be applied in a certain area. For example, an Indigenous person might be appointed a special constable in order to assist regular members as they police an Indigenous community where English is not well understood, and where the special constable speaks the language well. They still perform this role today in many isolated northern communities and the RCMP has 122 special constables who are active in the RCMP today, and they are drawn almost entirely from the same Indigenous communities that they serve.
From the early years of policing in northern Canada, and well into the 1950s, local Indigenous peoples were hired by the RCMP as special constables and were employed as guides and to obtain and care for sled dog teams. Many of these former special constables still reside in the north to this day and are still involved in regimental functions of the RCMP.
Civilian members of the RCMP
While not delegated the powers of police officers, they are instead hired for their specialized scientific, technological, communications and administrative skills. Since the RCMP is a multi-faceted law enforcement organization with responsibilities for federal, provincial and municipal policing duties, it offers employment opportunities for civilian members as professional partners within Canada's national police force.
Civilian members represent approximately 14% of the total RCMP employee population, and are employed within RCMP establishments in most geographical areas of Canada. The following is a list of the most common categories of employment that may be available to interested and qualified individuals.
Operations
Telecommunications operator (dispatcher)[94]
Scientific
Toxicology
Chemistry
Biology â DNA
Law
Technical
Forensic identification services
Instrument technology
Document examination
Counterfeit analysis
Firearms technology
Electronics technology
Information technology
Communications
Computer systems development
Telecommunications
Information services/public affairs
Administrative
Policy development and analysis
Staff development and training
Human resource management
Translation
Police Records Information Management Environment (PRIME-BC)
Public service employees
Also referred to as public servants, PSes or PSEs, they provide much of the administrative support for the RCMP in the form of detachment clerks and other administrative support at the headquarters level. They are not police officers, do not wear a uniform, have no police authority and are not bound by the RCMP Act.
Municipal employees
Abbreviated as "ME" they are found in RCMP detachments where a contract exists with a municipality to provide front-line policing. MEs are not actually employees of the RCMP, but are instead employed by the local municipality to work in the RCMP detachment. They conduct the same duties that a PSE would and are required to meet the same reliability and security clearance to do so. Many detachment buildings house a combination of municipally and provincially funded detachments, and therefore there are often PSEs and MEs found working together in them.
Ranks
See also: Police ranks in Canada
The rank system of the RCMP is partly a result of their origin as a paramilitary force. Upon its founding, the RCMP adopted the rank insignia of the Canadian Army (which in turn came from the British Army), which is almost identical to that of the current Canadian Army. Like in a military, the RCMP also has a distinction between commissioned and non-commissioned officers.[95] The non-commissioned ranks are mostly based on military ranks (apart from constable). Non-commissioned officer ranks above staff sergeant resemble those that formerly existed in the Canadian Army, but have since been replaced by warrant officers.[96] The commissioned officer ranks, by contrast, use a set of non-military titles that are often used in Commonwealth police services. The number of higher ranks like chief superintendent and deputy commissioner have been added on and increased since the formation of the force, while the lower commissioned rank of sub-inspector has been dropped.
The numbers are current as of April 1, 2019:[97]
Commissioned officers
Commissioner Deputy commissioner Assistant commissioner Chief superintendent Superintendent Inspector
Commissaire Sous-commissaire Commissaire adjoint Surintendant principal Surintendant Inspecteur
Commr. D/Commr. A/Commr. C/Supt. Supt. Insp.
1 6 33 55 186 331
RCMP Commissioner insignia.svg
RCMP Deputy Commissioner insignia.svg
RCMP Assistant Commissioner insignia.svg
RCMP Chief Superintendent insignia.svg
RCMP Superintendent insignia.svg
RCMP Inpsector insignia.svg
[98] These are the official abbreviations for the commissioned and non-commissioned officers in the RCMP.[99][100]
Non-commissioned officers Constables Depot
Corps sergeant major Sergeant major Staff sergeant major Staff sergeant Sergeant Corporal Constable Cadet
Sergent-major du corps Sergent-major Sergent-major d'Ă©tat major Sergent d'Ă©tat-major Sergent Caporal Gendarme Cadet
C/S/M. S/M. S/S/M. S/Sgt. Sgt. Cpl. Cst. no abbreviation
1 8 10 828 2,037 3,565 11,859 Varies
RCMP Corps Sergeant Major insignia.svg
RCMP Sergeant Major insignia.svg
RCMP Staff Sergeant Major insignia.svg
RCMP Staff Sergeant insignia.svg
RCMP Sergeant insignia.svg
RCMP Corporal insignia.svg
RCMP Constable insignia.svg
RCMP Cadet Insignia.svg
The ranks of inspector and higher are commissioned ranks and are appointed by the Governor-in-Council. Depending on the dress, badges are worn on the shoulder as slip-ons, on shoulder boards, or directly on the epaulettes. The lower ranks are non-commissioned officers and the insignia continues to be based on pre-1968 Canadian Army patterns. Since 1990, the non-commissioned officers' rank insignia has been embroidered on the epaulette slip-ons. Non-commissioned rank badges are worn on the right sleeve of the scarlet/blue tunic and blue jacket. The constables wear no rank insignia. There are also 122 special constables, as well as a varying number of reserve constables, auxiliary constables, and students who wear identifying insignia.
The star, or "pip", used in the insignia of commissioned officers represents the military Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. The Order's motto (tria juncta in uno, "three joined in one", referring to the holy trinity) is inscribed in a band in the middle of it. The three crowns inset in the centre not only represent the Christian Trinity, but also the three former kingdoms that became the United Kingdom. The RCMP formerly had subaltern (junior officer) ranks that were indicated by one "pip" for a sub-inspector (equivalent to an army second lieutenant) to three "pips" for an inspector (equivalent to an army captain).[101] A reorganization in 1960 changed the insignia to three "pips" for sub-inspectors[102] and a crown for inspectors,[103] making the latter a field officer rank. The rank of sub-inspector was abolished in 1990, leaving the RCMP with no subaltern ranks.
A royal crown is used in the regimental cap badge and the insignia of senior commissioned officers. In 1955 St. Edward's Crown replaced the Tudor Crown. Although Queen Elizabeth II had adopted the redesign of the heraldic crown in 1953, it took some time to design, approve, and manufacture the new insignia.
The crossed Mameluke sabre and baton is the insignia for general officers. In the RCMP it designates the commissioner (equivalent to an Army general) and their subordinate deputy commissioners (equivalent to Army lieutenant-generals). The assistant commissioners use the crown-over-three-pips insignia of an Army brigadier.
The brass shoulder title pin on the epaulettes was changed from "RCMP" to "GRC-RCMP" in 1968. (GRC stands for Gendarmerie royale du Canada, the RCMP's French-language title). This was due to a 1968 ruling stating that all statutes had to be published bilingually in both English and French. As a law enforcement agency, the RCMP had to use ranks and titles in both languages. This was later reinforced by the Official Languages Act.
Honorary positions
RCMP honorary titles
Position Honorary holder Since Notes
Commissioner-in-Chief Queen Elizabeth II May 10, 2012[104][105] In celebration of her Diamond Jubilee; formerly an Honorary Commissioner[104] from 1953[106]
Honorary Commissioner Charles, Prince of Wales May 10, 2012[104] Assumed the title of Honorary Commissioner when the Queen was granted Commissioner-in-Chief
Honorary Commissioner Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex June 8, 2009[107][better source needed]
Honorary Deputy Commissioner Anne, Princess Royal November 10, 2014[108]
Various members of the Canadian royal family have been granted honorary titles by the RCMP. Queen Elizabeth II, initially appointed Honorary Commissioner in 1953 was made Commissioner-in-Chief in celebration of her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Upon her new appointment, her son, Charles, Prince of Wales was made an Honorary Commissioner.[106] Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex was made an Honorary Commissioner during a royal visit in 2009.[107][better source needed] Anne, Princess Royal was made Honorary Deputy Commissioner during a visit to Canada in 2014.[108]
Equipment and vehicles
Land fleet
RCMP truck at G20 Summit in Toronto
Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor at Parliament Hill in Ottawa
The RCMP Land Transport Fleet inventory includes:[109]
Cars: 5,330
Unmarked vehicles: 2,811
Light trucks: 2,090
Heavy trucks: 123
SUVs: 616
Motorcycles: 34
Small snowmobiles: 481
All-terrain vehicles: 181
Gas railway cars: 1
Tractors: 27
Buses: 3
Total: 11,697
Marine craft
RCMP-CCG vessel Simmonds with CCGS Cape Hurd
The RCMP polices Canadian Internal Waters, including the territorial sea and contiguous zone as well as the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway; such operations are provided by the RCMP's Federal Services Directorate and includes enforcing Canada's environment, fisheries, customs and immigration laws. In provinces and municipalities where the RCMP performs contract policing, the force polices freshwater lakes and rivers.
To meet these challenges, the RCMP operates the Marine Division, with five Robert Allan Ltd.âdesigned high-speed catamaran patrol vessels; Inkster and the Commissioner-class Nadon, Higgitt, Lindsay and Simmonds, based on all three coasts and manned by officers specially trained in maritime enforcement. Inkster is based in Prince Rupert, BC, Simmonds is stationed on Newfoundland's south coast, and the rest are on the Pacific Coast.[110] Simmonds' livery is unique, in that it sports the RCMP badge, but is otherwise painted with Canadian Coast Guard colours and the marking Coast Guard Police. The other four vessels are painted with blue and white RCMP colours.
The RCMP operates 377 smaller boats, defined as vessels less than 9.2 m (30 ft) long, at locations across Canada. This category ranges from canoes and car toppers to rigid-hulled inflatables and stable, commercially built, inboard-outboard vessels. Individual detachments often have smaller high-speed rigid-hulled inflatable boats and other purpose-built vessels for inland waters, some of which can be hauled by road to the nearest launching point.[110]
RCMP ship fleet
Ship name Type Class Base Specifications Propulsion Top speed Builder Year commissioned Crew
Inkster Patrol vessel n/a Prince Rupert, BC 19.75 m (64.8 ft)
fast patrol aluminium catamaran 25 kn (46 km/h; 29 mph)+ Allied Shipbuilders Limited of North Vancouver, BC 1996 4
Nadon Patrol vessel Commissioner Class PV (Raven Class) Nanaimo, BC 17.7 m (58 ft)
fast patrol catamaran 2 Ă 820 hp (610 kW) D2840 LE401 V-10 MAN Diesel engines 36 kn (67 km/h; 41 mph) Robert Allan Ltd. 1991 4
Higgitt Patrol vessel Commissioner Class PV Campbell River, BC 17.7 m (58 ft)
fast patrol catamaran 2 Ă 820 hp (610 kW) D2840 LE401 V-10 MAN Diesel engines 36 kn (67 km/h; 41 mph) Robert Allan Ltd. 1992 4
Lindsay Patrol vessel Commissioner Class PV Patricia Bay, Victoria, BC 17.7 m (58 ft)
fast patrol catamaran 2 Ă 820 hp (610 kW) D2840 LE401 V-10 MAN Diesel engines 36 kn (67 km/h; 41 mph) Robert Allan Ltd. 1993 4
Simmonds Patrol vessel Commissioner Class PV South coast Newfoundland 17.7 m (58 ft)
fast patrol catamaran 2 Ă 820 hp (610 kW) D2840 LE401 V-10 MAN Diesel engines 36 kn (67 km/h; 41 mph) Robert Allan Ltd. 1995 4
Aircraft fleet
RCMP Pilatus PC-12
As of December 2018 the RCMP had 34 aircraft (8 helicopters and 26 fixed-wing aircraft) registered with Transport Canada.[9] The new Airbus H145 is still currently registered to Airbus. All aircraft are operated and maintained by the Air Services Branch.
RCMP Fleet
Aircraft Number[9] Variants Notes
Airbus H145 1[111] H145 Helicopter, light twin-engine, 4-axis autopilot.
Serving the Lower Mainland of BC ("E" Division)
Eurocopter AS350 Ăcureuil 6 AS 350B3 Helicopter, AStar 350 or "Squirrel"
Cessna 206 5 U206G, T206H Fixed wing, Stationair (Station wagon of the Air), general aviation aircraft
Cessna 208 Caravan 3 208, 208B Fixed wing, Caravan, short-haul regional airliner and utility aircraft
de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 1 300 Series Fixed wing, 20-passenger STOL feederliner and utility aircraft, twin-engine.
Eurocopter EC120 Colibri 2 EC 120B Light helicopter, "Hummingbird"
Pilatus PC-12 16 PC-12/45, PC-12/47, PC-12/47E Fixed wing, turboprop passenger and cargo aircraft
Quest Kodiak 1 100 Fixed wing, un-pressurized, turboprop-powered fixed-tricycle-gear, STOL
Weapons and intervention options
RCMP issue Smith & Wesson Model 5946 service pistol with Hogue grip
RCMP issue Taser International X-26 conducted energy weapon
Smith & Wesson Model 5946 (1992âPresent) - Standard full-sized service sidearm. It is stainless-steel, double-action only, with a 4 in (100 mm) barrel and a double-column 15-round magazine. Emergency Response Team (ERT) and dog handler members were issued a modified Model 5946 with its magazine safety removed until it was replaced by the SIG Sauer P226R.
Smith & Wesson Model 3953 (1996âPresent) - Special issue compact sidearm for plainclothes members and commissioned officers. It can also be requested as a service pistol by members with small hands who cannot positively grip the larger Model 5946. It is similar to the Model 5946 except it has a shorter 3.5 in (89 mm) barrel, a shortened grip, and a single-column 8-round magazine.
SIG Sauer 226R (9Ă19mm ) - Standard issue sidearm for ERT and dog-handler members. It replaced the modified Model 5946 that had been previously issued.
Glock Model 19 - Special issue sidearm for Canadian Air Carrier Protective Program (CACPP) members.
Heckler & Koch MP5 - Adopted by ERT
Remington Model 700P (.308 Winchester) bolt-action rifle.
Remington 870 12-gauge shotgun
Colt Canada C7 rifle (5.56mm NATO)
Colt Canada C8 carbine (5.56mm NATO) - Adopted by ERT in
?
Colt Canada C8 IUR (Integrated Upper Receiver ) 5.56mm NATO. The semi-automatic C8 IUR was adopted for general use in October, 2011,[112] but the first batch were not procured until 2013.[113] The first RCMP Cadets began qualifying on the C8 IUR and receiving Active Shooter training in 2015.[114]
Taser International M26, X26, & X26P. Following the Robert DziekaĆski Incident, all older M26 models and 60 faulty X26 models in stock were removed and destroyed in 2010 due to being outside of specifications.[115]
Oleoresin capsicum spray
ASP and Monadnock expandable defensive batons
Past weapons and intervention options
Rifle
Canadian Arsenals Limited (CAL) C1A1 - issued in 7.62mm NATO. Canadian variant of the L1A1 and FN FAL produced under licence by Canadian Arsenals Limited (CAL) (Long Branch). The RCMP's rifles were sourced from the testing batch of FALs received from Fabrique Nationale and had been rebuilt by CAL to meet C1A1 standards. Used from 1961 to 1969.
Winchester Model 70 Issued in .308 Winchester. Used from 1960-1973. This rifle was replaced by the Remington 700.
LeeâEnfield No. 4 Mk 1 - issued in .303 British. World War II surplus rifles used from 1947 to 1966. Replaced by CAL C1A1 and Winchester 70.
Short Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE) No. 1 Mk III - issued in .303 British. World War I surplus rifles used from 1919-1947.[116]
Lee-Enfield Carbine (LEC) - issued in .303 British. Procured as military surplus from Militia stores to replace the unsatisfactory Ross Rifle. Used from 1914 to 1920. This was the last general-issue rifle used by the NWMP. The RCMP that replaced it only issued rifles according to need.
Ross rifle - issued in .303 British. The Ross Mk I was issued from 1905 to 1907 and the improved Ross Mk II was in testing from 1909 to 1912.[116] The Mk I design was accepted by the Canadian Militia in 1903. The NWMP looked at acquiring the Ross to replace the Winchester and Lee-Metford and ordered 1000. Production problems led to delays until 1904; the most glaring being that the finished product did not match their original specifications.[116] The NWMP demanded their contract carbines use a different set of iron sight (which later became standard on the Mk II) which delayed production for a further year.[116] The carbines received in 1905 were plagued with quality control problems that made them more fragile than the weapons they were to replace. After a constable suffered an eye injury in 1907 the Ross carbines were withdrawn.[116] When the improved Ross Mk II rifles arrived in 1909 the wary NWMP decided to test fire all of them fully before issuing them. A fire at the depot in Regina in 1911 destroyed almost all of the new rifles.[116] The NWMP then gave up on the Ross.
Magazine Lee-Enfield (MLE) Mk.I rifle - issued in .303 British; it was the first smokeless-powder weapon in NWMP service. Loaned to the NWMP from the Victoria and Winnipeg militias to replace a stolen cache of M1876 Winchesters. The NWMP "forgot" to give them back later. Used from 1902 to 1920.
Lee-Metford Carbine - issued in .303 British. The Metford rifling gave tighter groups when fired than the later Enfield, but the rifling wore out faster. Only 200 procured. Used from 1895 to 1914. Replaced by the Lee-Enfield Carbine.
Winchester Model 1876 saddle carbineâissued in .45-75 Winchester. Popular for its handiness and rate of fire, but it was too fragile for the rough handling and use it received in the field. Used from 1878 until 1914.[117] and replaced by the Lee-Enfield Carbine.
SniderâEnfield Mark III Cavalry carbine - issued in .577 Snider. Single-shot breach-loading conversion of an Enfield caplock muzzle-loader. Used from 1873 to 1878 and replaced by the Winchester Model 1876 lever-action rifle.
Service Pistol
Smith & Wesson Military & Police revolverâissued with 5 in (130 mm) barrel, in .38 Special. It served more than forty years from 1954 to 1996. Plainclothes members carried a variant with a 4 in (100 mm) barrel.
In 1981, the standard loading was changed from a 158 gr (0.36 oz; 10.2 g) .38 Special Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) ball round to a 158 gr (0.36 oz; 10.2 g) .38 Special +P Semi-WadCutter Hollow-Point (SWCHP), a violation of the Hague Convention of 1899 if used in a military context.[118]
Colt New Service revolver â issued with 5.5 in (140 mm) barrel; 700 ordered in .455 Webley in 1904, with .45 Long Colt versions being delivered from 1919; in all, over 3200 issued.[118][116] 455 Webley was the British military service round and .45 Long Colt was the standard Canadian service round until both were replaced by the NATO-standard 9x19mm Parabellum post World War II. Used from 1904 to 1954.
Enfield Mark II revolverâissued in .476 Enfield, about 1080 Mark IIs obtained from Britain's Ministry of Defence, after it was learned the BeaumontâAdams had been discontinued.[119][116] The remaining .450 Adams ammunition, which was compatible with the .476 Enfield round, was issued until stocks were depleted. Used from 1882 to 1911.
BeaumontâAdams revolverâfirst issue weapon, in .450 Adams. 330 Mark Is purchased from Britain's Ministry of Defence in 1873 and issued after delivery in 1874. Rough handling of the crates in transit, poor packing by the contractor who shipped the guns, and previous service wear made them unsuitable for service.[116] The constables sometimes had to manually turn the cylinder due to cracked feed hands or keep both hands on the grips for the springs to work due to loose screws.[120] Later, these were to be replaced by 330 Enfield Mark IIs,[121] but many were stolen en route.[120] Used from 1874 to 1888.
Pistols
Because of procurement problems with the BeaumontâAdams revolvers, constables sometimes carried their own sidearms chambered in a standard service caliber.
Tranter revolver - chambered in .450 Adams, the standard service round. It was similar to the Beaumont-Adams revolver it was substituted for.
Smith & Wesson Model 3 revolver - chambered in .44 Russian, a very powerful cartridge in its day. Thirty were purchased in 1874 by the NWMP to field-test the .44 Russian round for service. Its non-standard chambering and the difficulty to get ammunition for it led to its being withdrawn.
Webley & Scott Bull Dog revolver[122] - chambered in .450 Adams. Its small size made it a handy backup pistol. Most were originally procured to arm NWMP constables assigned to protecting mail cars on trains. The constables would sometimes "absent-mindedly forget" to hand the pistols back afterwards.
Sidearms
1821 pattern Light Cavalry Sabre - Originally part of a trove of old swords given by the Canadian Militia to the NWMP as weapons. They were returned to stores in 1880. Later issued to commissioned officers in 1882 as ceremonial sidearms and a sign of rank. This was later replaced by the M1896 Light Cavalry Sabre.
1853 pattern Cavalry Sabre - Originally part of a trove of old swords given by the Canadian Militia to the NWMP as weapons. They were returned to stores in 1880. Later issued in 1882 to non-commissioned officers as ceremonial sidearms and a sign of rank. This was later replaced by the 1821 pattern sabre.
1896 pattern Light Cavalry Sabre - Replaced the 1821 pattern sabre as the NWMP officer's ceremonial sword.
1908 pattern cavalry saber - Carried by the Mounted Police detachment sent to Siberia in 1918 during the Russian Civil War.
Straightstick baton manufactured in wood and plastic
Sap gloves Prohibited by RCMP Policy. Not currently used.
Ceremonial weapons and symbols of office
1912 pattern cavalry officer's sword carried by officers. Blade is acid etched both sides with the monarch's crown, Canadian coat of Arms, royal cypher and RCMP badge.
1908 pattern cavalry sword carried by NCOs on the Musical Ride
Bamboo-shafted lance carried by members on horseback on the Musical Ride. The lance is used as a decorative item and is flourished during trick and formation riding. The pennant is red over white, the national colours of the Canadian flag. It represents the Pattern 1868 cavalry lance carried by the NWMP in the 1870s.
Drill cane
Swagger stick
Commissioner's tipstaff
In 1973, Wilkinson Sword produced a number of commemorative swords to celebrate the RCMP centennial. None of these swords were ever used ceremonially, and were strictly collectibles. Wilkinson Sword also made a commemorative centennial tomahawk and miniature "letter opener" models of their centennial swords.
In 1973, Winchester Repeating Arms Company produced an RCMP commemorative centennial version of their Model 94 rifle in .30-30 Winchester, with a 22 in (560 mm) round barrel. The receiver, buttplate, and forend cap (on the musket-style forend) were plated in gold. Commemorative medallions were embedded in the right-hand side of the stock, with an "MP" engraving. There was engraving on the barrel and receiver indicating the rifle was a centennial commemorative edition. Sights were open notch rear, with a flip-up rear ladder, graduated to 2,000 yd (1,800 m). Two versions were produced, 9500 with serial numbers beginning "RCMP" for commercial sale, 5000 with the prefix "MP" sold only to serving RCMP members. In addition, ten presentation models were produced, serialled RCMP1P to RCMP10P. (The production of this commemorative is ironic, since the Winchester 94 was never used by the RCMP.)[123]
Popular awareness
Canadian flag carried by RCMP at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver
The Mounties have been immortalized as symbols of Canadian culture in numerous Hollywood Northwestern movies and television series, which often feature the image of the Mountie as square-jawed, stoic, and polite, yet with a steely determination and physical toughness that sometimes appears superhuman. Coupled with the adage that the Mountie "always gets his man," the image projects them as fearsome, incorruptible, dogged yet gentle champions of the law. The RCMP's motto is actually the French Maintiens le droit, which has been translated into the English "Defending the Law" or "Maintain the right".[124][47][49] The Hollywood motto derives from a comment by a Montana newspaper, the Fort Benton Record: "They fetch their man every time".[125] The RCMP Sunset Ceremony (French: Cérémonie du crépuscule) has taken place every summer since 1989 at the Musical Ride Centre in Ottawa,[126][127] with it in recent years featuring the Ottawa Police Service Pipe Band and the Governor General's Foot Guards Band.[128][129]
Early depictions
In 1912, Ralph Connor's Corporal Cameron of the North-West Mounted Police: A Tale of the MacLeod Trail appeared, becoming an international best-selling novel. Mounties fiction became a popular genre in both pulp magazines and book form. Among the best-selling authors who specialized in tales of the Mounted Police were James Oliver Curwood, Laurie York Erskine, James B Hendryx, T Lund, Harwood Steele (the son of Sam Steele), and William Byron Mowery.
In other media, a famous example is the radio and television series, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. Dudley Do-Right (of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show) is a 1960s example of the comic aspect of the Mountie myth, as is Klondike Kat, from Total Television. The Broadway musical and Hollywood movie Rose-Marie is a 1930s example of its romantic side. A successful combination were a series of Renfrew of the Royal Mounted boy's adventure novels written by Laurie York Erskine beginning in 1922 running to 1941. In the 1930s Erskine narrated a Sgt Renfrew of the Mounties radio show and a series of films with actor-singer James Newill playing Renfrew were released between 1937 and 1940. In 1953 portions of the films were mixed with new sequences of Newill for a Renfrew of the Mounted television series.
Bruce Carruthers (b.1901âd.1953), a former Mounted Police corporal (1919â1923), served as an unofficial technical advisor to Hollywood in many films with RCMP characters.[130] They included Heart of the North (1938), Susannah of the Mounties (1939), Northern Pursuit (1943), Gene Autry and The Mounties (1951), The Wild North (1952), and The Pony Soldier (1952).
Modern culture
In 1959, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired R.C.M.P., a half-hour dramatic series about an RCMP detachment keeping the peace and fighting crime. Filmed in black and white, in and around Ottawa by Crawley Films, the series was co-produced with the BBC and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and ran for 39 episodes. It was noted for its pairing of Québécois and Anglo officers.
Canadians also poke fun at the RCMP with Sergeant Renfrew and his faithful dog Cuddles in various sketches produced by the Royal Canadian Air Farce comedy troupe. On That '70s Show Mounties were played by SCTV alumni Joe Flaherty and Dave Thomas. The British have also exploited the myth: the BBC television series Monty Python's Flying Circus featured a group of Mounties singing the chorus in The Lumberjack Song in the lumberjack sketch.
The 1972â90 CBC series The Beachcombers features a character named Constable John Constable who attempts to enforce the law in the town of Gibsons, British Columbia.
In comic books, the Marvel Comics characters of Alpha Flight are described on several occasions as "RCMP auxiliaries," and two of their members, Snowbird and the second Major Mapleleaf are depicted as serving members of the force. In the latter case, due to trademark issues, Major Mapleleaf is described as a "Royal Canadian Mountie" in the opening roll call pages of each issue of Alpha Flight he appears in.
Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin starred in the 1981 movie Death Hunt that fictionalized the RCMP pursuit of Albert Johnson.
In the early 1990s, Canadian professional wrestler Jacques Rougeau utilized the gimmick of "The Mountie" while wrestling for the WWF. He typically wore the Red Serge to the ring, and carried a shock stick as an illegal weapon. As his character was portrayed as an evil Mountie, the RCMP ultimately won an injunction preventing Rougeau from wrestling as this character in Canada, though he was not prevented from doing so outside the country. He briefly held the Intercontinental Championship in 1992.
The 1998 swan song of Nick Berry's time on UK drama Heartbeat features his character, Sergeant Nick Rowan, transferring to Canada and taking the rank of constable in the Mounties. The special telemovie was titled Heartbeat: Changing Places.
The 1994â98 TV series Due South pairs Mountie Constable Benton Fraser with streetwise American detective Ray Vecchio cleaning up the streets of Chicago. It mainly derives its entertainment from the perceived differences in attitude and culture between these two countries' police forces. Fraser is depicted as honest and polite to a fault, even refusing to carry a loaded sidearm when "assisting" Detective Vecchio, but almost superhuman in his abilities for thwarting crime.
A pair of Mounties staff the RCMP detachment in the fictional town of Lynx River, Northwest Territories, in the CBC series North of 60. The series, which aired from 1992 to 1998, is about events in the mostly indigenous community, but the Mounties feature prominently in each episode.
Another TV series from the 1990s, Bordertown features an NWMP corporal paired with a U.S. marshal securing law and order on a frontier U.S.âCanada border town. In the ABC TV mini-series Answered by Fire, at least three mounties are featured. Mounties also appear in the TV series When Calls the Heart (Hallmark Channel).
The 1987 Brian De Palma film The Untouchables features cooperation between the Treasury Department task force, led by Eliot Ness, and the Mounties against liquor smuggling across the CanadaâUnited States border.
The 1995 album C'est Cheese by Canadian musical comedy group The Arrogant Worms includes "The Mountie Song", which tells the story of a dissatisfied Mountie.
In his 1999, album Soiree Newfoundland musician A. Frank Willis included "Savage Cop in Savage Cove" which was based on a true story and went on to become a big hit.[131]
Conan O'Brien brought his late night show to Toronto in February 2004. O'Brien spent a day as a Royal Canadian Mountie at the CanadaâUnited States border.
From 2011, the CTV fantasy drama series The Listener regularly features characters who work for the Integrated Investigative Bureau, a fictional division of the RCMP that brings together various specialists, officers and civilian consultants to work on high-profile or federal cases. Although characters in the employ of the IIB are rarely, if ever, depicted wearing uniform, they are often addressed by their ranks â two main characters are Sergeant Michelle McClusky and Corporal Dev Clark.
Mountie merchandise and trademark
There are products and merchandise that are made in the image of the RCMP, like Mounties statues or hats. Before 1995, the RCMP had little control over these products.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police received an international licence on April 1, 1995, requiring those who use the RCMP to pay a licensing fee. Proceeds from the fees are used for community awareness programmes.[132] Those that do not pay the licensing fee are legally unable to use the name of the RCMP or their correct uniforms, though a film such as Canadian Bacon used the name "Royal Mounted Canadian Police" and the character in the Dudley Do-Right film did not wear accurate insignia.
Through a Master Licensing Agreement (MLA) with the RCMP, the RCMP Foundation is responsible for managing the commercial use of the RCMP name, image, and protected marks.[133] The foundation issues selected companies a royalty-based agreement allowing them to produce and market high-quality official RCMP merchandise. Walt Disney Co. (Canada) Ltd. was contracted to aid in the initial set up of the licensing program[134] but Disney never owned or controlled any of the RCMP's protected marks.
Following the expiration of the Disney contract in 2000, all responsibilities and activities were taken over by the executive director and his staff, reporting to the foundation president and board of directors. In 2007, through a decree signed by Commissioner Beverley Busson, the operating name was changed to the "Royal Canadian Mounted Police Foundation".
The RCMP Heritage Centre is a multi-million dollar museum designed by Arthur Erickson that opened May 2007 in Regina, Saskatchewan, at the RCMP Academy, Depot Division. It replaced the old RCMP museum and is designed to celebrate the role of the force in Canada's history.
RCMP Bands
Although the official band of the RCMP has disbanded, several small RCMP pipe bands such as this one still remain.
A Mounties Band in Yukon, 1901.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Band (French: La Musique de la Gendarmerie royale du Canada) was the RCMP's central musical ensemble. It was considered one of the best professional bands assembled in Canada.[135][136] Although it was an official regimental band, the members worked in the band as a secondary job. It is generally considered to have begun in 1938, though there were various police bands in the RCMP that flourished at the time, leading the Canadian government granting approval for the creation of a full-time central band in December 1958, with its headquarters in the capital of Ottawa.[137][136] Appearances made by the band included Expo 86 and the Commonwealth Conference in Vancouver, the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988, as well as the visits of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Queen Elizabeth II in 1990.[136][135] It was dissolved in 1994 due to government budget cuts.
In its 55 year existence, it operated as a voluntary regimental band, with its members working with it as a secondary job apart from their other duties in the RCMP. Members of the band wore the RCMP's notable Red Serge as part of their full dress uniform and adopted drill seen in Canadian military bands and bands in the British Army. Its longest serving director was Superintendent Edwin Joseph Lydall who served from 1948 to 1968.[138]
Today, instead of brass and reed bands, the RCMP sports eight regional pipe bands across the major cities of the 10 provinces. The first of these bands were established in 1992 in Alberta.[139] The following are the locations of the regional volunteer pipe bands:
Halifax
Moncton
Montreal (part of "C" Division)
Ottawa
Winnipeg
Regina (part of "F" Division)[140]
Edmonton
Vancouver (part of "E" Division)[141]
These bands act as "garrison bands" for the provincial division, and attend parades, police ceremonies, and public events.[142]
RCMP Tartan
The RCMP Tartan
The RCMP has since 1998 had its own distinctive tartan. The creation of the tartan was the result of a committee created in the early 1990s to create a tartan by its 125th anniversary. Upon approval from commissioner Phillip Murray, the tartan was registered with the Scottish Tartans Society and presented to the agency by Anne, Princess Royal during her royal visit to Canada in 1998. The tartan appeared for the first time by a RCMP pipe band at the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo in July and August 1998.[143]
Controversies and criticism
Further information: List of controversies involving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
American historian Andrew Graybill has argued that the RCMP historically resembled the Texas Rangers in many ways. He argues that each protected the established order by confining and removing Indigenous peoples; tightly controlling the mixed blood peoples (the African Americans in Texas and the MĂ©tis in Canada); assisting the large-scale ranchers against the small-scale ranchers and farmers who fenced the land; and breaking the power of labour unions that tried to organize the workers of industrial corporations.[144]
The RCMP have been involved in training and logistically supporting the Haitian National Police since 1994, a controversial matter in Canada considering allegations of widespread human rights violations on the part of the HNP. Some Canadian activist groups have called for an end to the RCMP training.[145] The RCMP has also provided training overseas in Iraq and other peace-keeping missions.
In October 2016, the RCMP issued an apology for harassment, discrimination, and sexual abuse of female officers and civilian members. Additionally they set aside a $100 million fund to compensate these victims. Over 20,000 current and past female employees that were employed after 1974 are eligible.[146]
In 2019, The Guardian revealed that RCMP commanders had advocated the use of "lethal overwatch"âi.e., officers equipped with firearmsâwhile clearing protesters to grant TC Energy access to the lands of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation in order to construct the Coastal GasLink Pipeline.[147]
Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation was arrested by two RCMP officers on March 10, 2020 in Fort McMurray, Alberta.[148][149] After several minutes of Chief Adam yelling and posturing at officers, the officers tackled him and punched him in the head whilst struggling with him on the ground. Chief Adam was later charged with resisting arrest and assaulting a peace officer, but the charges were subsequently dropped.[150] After watching the video of the arrest, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, "[w]e have all now seen the shocking video of Chief Adam's arrest and we must get to the bottom of this".[151][148][152] Following the revelation of Chief Adam's arrestâas well as several other recent instances in which RCMP officers had assaulted or killed Indigenous people[153]âRCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki stated, after initially demurring on the question, that systemic racism exists in the RCMP: "I do know that systemic racism is part of every institution, the RCMP included," she said.[154] One day earlier, Prime Minister Trudeau had also stated that "ystemic racism is an issue right across the country, in all our institutions, including in all our police forces, including in the RCMP."[155]
In April 2020, the RCMP was strongly condemned for its response to the 2020 Nova Scotia attacks, the deadliest rampage in Canadian history,[156] as well as their transparency in the criminal investigation. CBC News' television program The Fifth Estate and online newspaper Halifax Examiner analyzed the timeline of events, and both observed a myriad of failures and shortcomings in the RCMP response.[157][158][159] A criminologist criticised the RCMP's response as "a mess" and called for an overhaul in how the agency responds to active shooter situations, after they had failed to properly respond to other such incidents in the past.[160]
In June 2021, Privacy Commissioner of Canada Daniel Therrien found that the RCMP had broken Canadian privacy law through hundreds of illegal searches using Clearview AI.[161]
See also
Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the civilian complaints review body
Courage in Red, a 13-part documentary about the RCMP
Emergency Response Team (RCMP)
List of Canadian organizations with royal patronage
RCMP Technical Security Branch
Notes
Beverley Busson was the first woman to have held the top position in the force, albeit on an interim basis. She served as the interim commissioner from December 15, 2006, to July 6, 2007. The first female commissioner, Brenda Lucki was appointed on March 9, 2018, and was officially sworn into office on April 16, 2018.
References
"RCMP heraldic badge". Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada. Office of the Secretary to the Governor General. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
"Corps ensign of the RCMP". Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada. Office of the Secretary to the Governor General. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
General, The Office of the Secretary to the Governor. "Royal Canadian Mounted Police [Civil Institution]". reg.gg.ca. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
"History of the RCMP". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Retrieved April 14, 2016.[permanent dead link]
"Auxiliary Constable Program". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Archived from the original on May 8, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
"New RCMP National Headquarters Building: The M.J. Nadon Government of Canada Building". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. October 5, 2011. Archived from the original on April 8, 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
"Organizational structure". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca. April 1, 2019. Archived from the original on February 28, 2009. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
"Find a detachment". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. May 6, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
"Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: Quick Search Result for Royal Canadian Mounted Police". Transport Canada. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
"About the RCMP". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. April 26, 2016. Archived from the original on July 27, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, RSC 1985, c R-10, s 11.1.
"Colonial Lives of the Carceral Archipelago: Rethinking the Neoliberal Security State". Oxford Academic. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
Axster, Sabrina; Danewid, Ida; Goldstein, Asher; Mahmoudi, Matt; Burak Tansel, Cemal; Wilcox, Lauren (2021). "Colonial Lives of the Carceral Archipelago: Rethinking the Neoliberal Security State,". International Political Sociology: 10, 11. doi:10.1093/ips/olab013.
"The RCMP was created to control Indigenous people. Can that relationship be reset?". Global News. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
Jim Herlihy (1997). The Royal Irish Constabulary. Four Courts Press. pp. 87â91. ISBN 1-85182-343-3.
p.52 Sendzikas, Aldona Stanley Barracks: Toronto's Military Legacy Dundurn Press Ltd., 01/01/2011
Hewitt, Steve. "Policing the Promised Land: The RCMP and Negative Nation-building in Alberta and Saskatchewan in the Interwar Period", The Prairie West as Promised Land ed. R. Douglas Francis and Chris Kitzan (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2007), 318-320.
Hewitt, 322
McIntosh, Dave. The Collectors: A History of Canadian Customs and Excise (Published by NC Press in association with Revenue Canada, Customs and Excise, 1984)
Kelly, Nora and William. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police - A Century of History 1873-1973. (Edmonton, Hurtig Publishers. 1973) pp 199-200.
Reg Whitaker, "Left-Wing Dissent and the State: Canada in the Cold War Era." In C. E. S. Franks, Dissent and the State, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1988, 195. ISBN 0-19-540742-3
Canada: Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Archived February 24, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, Interpol
The Royal Collection. "e-Gallery > Exhibitions > Queen & Commonwealth > Gifts > Badge of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police". Queen's Printer. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved July 26, 2009.
"Inquiry Into Certain Activities of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Royal Commission of," Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 26, 2007.
Shore, Jacques; Crane, Brian; Wilson, John D. (2017). "Interjurisdictional Information Sharing and National Security: A Constitutional and Legislative Analysis". McGill Law Journal. 62:1: 207â239 â via CanLII.
PA1 John Masson, "Territorial Teamwork," Coast Guard Magazine 2/2006, pp. 26â27
Cheung, Carmen K. (2014). "Oversight and Accountability of Canada's National Security Agencies: A Framework for Discussion". The Canadian Bar Review. 92:1: 19â30. 2014 CanLIIDocs 252 â via CanLII.
"Canoe.ca News December 25, 2007". Archived from the original on December 26, 2007.
"RCMP National Division, a renamed A Division, to take on corruption". Maclean's. June 3, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
"Gazette magazine - The Canadian Air Carrier Protective Program - Royal Canadian Mounted Police". June 26, 2012. Archived from the original on June 26, 2012.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 17, 2014). "Famous cases, events and people | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
CBC Archived May 20, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
Gil Aegerter. "Three Canadian Officers Killed in Spray of Gunfire". NBC News.
Ross, David (March 24, 1988). The Royal Canadian Mounted Police 1873-1987. pp. 21â22. ISBN 0-85045-834-X.
North-West Mounted Police Uniform - Royal Canadian Mounted Police Archived October 2, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Rcmp-grc.gc.ca (2011-08-12). Retrieved on 2014-04-12.
Ross, David (March 24, 1988). The Royal Canadian Mounted Police 1873â1987. p. 36. ISBN -0-85045-834-X.
Ross, David (March 24, 1988). The Royal Canadian Mounted Police 1873-1987. p. 26. ISBN 0-85045-834-X.
"1990: Sikh Mounties permitted to wear turbans". CBC Archives. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
"Badges and Insignia". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Archived from the original on October 13, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
"Canada's 'Sherlock Holmes of Forensic Science'". The Kingston Whig-Standard. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
The encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. University of Regina. Canadian Plains Research Centre. Regina: University of Regina, Canadian Plains Research Centre. 2005. p. 584. ISBN 0889771758. OCLC 57639332.
"Dr. Frances McGill was Saskatchewan's answer to Sherlock Holmes". Regina Leader-Post. June 19, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
Moore, Dene. (2012-08-16) Female Mounties earn right to wear pants and boots with all formal uniforms Archived November 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. Vancouversun.com. Retrieved on 2014-04-12.
"William Elliott sworn in as RCMP commissioner". CBC News. July 16, 2007. Retrieved June 13, 2018. ...the organization's first chief not to have served on a police force.
Andrew Mayada (December 15, 2007). "RCMP commissioner promises sweeping changes". CanWest News Service. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007. Retrieved July 30, 2008. Elliott was appointed the first civilian commissioner in the RCMP's history
"Prime Minister announces new Commissioner Designate of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police". Prime Minister of Canada. March 9, 2018.
"Royal Canadian Mounted Police". Quebec400.gc.ca. February 8, 2008. Archived from the original on July 16, 2008. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
Vancouver, The (December 7, 2006). "New commissioner for RCMP must restore faith in the famed force". Canada.com. Archived from the original on August 23, 2012. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (April 19, 2018). "Tipstaff | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
"PM announces charitable donations on behalf of The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall". Archived from the original on April 4, 2013.
"All The Queen's Horses: fourth RCMP steed crosses Atlantic to join Royal Mews". Archived from the original on September 27, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal Becomes Honorary RCMP Deputy Commissioner, Gateway Gazette, retrieved May 26, 2021
"Royal Canadian Mounted Police". Archived from the original on October 13, 2007.
"heraldist1". August 1, 2001. Archived from the original on August 1, 2001.
Furness, Hannah (May 23, 2012). "Queen guarded by Canadian Mounties today" â via www.telegraph.co.uk.
"North-West Mounted Police and Battleford memorial: Memorial 47001-047 Battleford, SK". National Inventory of Canadian Military Memorials. Veterans Affairs Canada. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
"Fact Sheet: International Operations Branch" (PDF). Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 2, 2010. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
"DEA Afghanistan Unit Receives Prestigious Joint Chiefs of Staff Award". KETK NBC. February 8, 2012. Archived from the original on May 15, 2013. Retrieved January 19, 2017. The ATFC began operations in mid-2009 and is a multi-agency organization led by DEA with the Treasury Department and Department of Defense as co-deputies. Additional personnel staff ATFC from the Department of Defense's CENTCOM, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Internal Revenue Service. In the past, the FBI and RCMP also were members. The ATFC's purpose is to attack insurgence funding and financing networks by providing threat finance expertise and actionable intelligence to U.S. civilian and military leaders. The RCMP have also participated in United Nations Peacekeeping operations, sending members to participate actively in various U.N. missions from the late 1980s including observer missions in Namibia, policing missions in Haiti and Kosovo, and CIVPOL operations in Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, and Sudan.
"Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, RSC 1985, c R-10, ss 3â4".
"Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, RSC 1985, c R-10, s 20".
R v White, [1956] SCR 154, 1955 CanLII 48 at 158.
"Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, RSC 1985, c R-10, s 5".
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (September 22, 2016). "RCMP executive | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
"RCMP Executive". Archived from the original on September 24, 2015.
"RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre". January 2004. Archived from the original on June 25, 2008.
National Division â RCMP Archived July 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Rcmp-grc.gc.ca (2013-10-17). Retrieved on 2013-10-30.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 4, 2020). "RCMP in Newfoundland and Labrador | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 4, 2020). "RCMP in Quebec | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 4, 2020). "RCMP in Saskatchewan | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 4, 2020). "Northwest Territories | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 4, 2020). "RCMP in Nova Scotia | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 4, 2020). "RCMP in New Brunswick | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (March 1, 2011). "RCMP in Alberta". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 4, 2020). "RCMP in Prince Edward Island | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
"RCMP - Yukon (M Division)". Archived from the original on February 5, 2009.
"RCMP in Ontario". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca. February 16, 2018.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 4, 2020). "RCMP in Nunavut | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Your Surrey RCMP, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (last modified March 31, 2016).
Canada's second largest RCMP detachment integrates dispatch with E-Comm Regional communications centre Archived March 9, 2018, at the Wayback Machine (press release), E-Comm (October 2, 2013).
Renato Gandia, RCMP pays tribute to wives who supported officers posted to smallest detachments Archived August 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Calgary Sun (April 12, 2013).
B.C.'s single-officer RCMP detachments to be closed, CBC News (September 28, 2012).
Switched on - Blue Line. Blueline.ca. Retrieved on 2013-10-30.
Tightened tactics breed dissent in Harper's security detail. The Globe and Mail (2012-06-23). Retrieved on 2013-10-30.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (November 7, 2013). "RCMP in British Columbia - Reserve Constables". bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
"Auxiliary Constable Program". Archived from the original on May 8, 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
"Index of Policing Initiatives". www.publicsafety.gc.ca. December 21, 2018.
"Surrey RCMP's Community Safety Officer program chopped". Archived from the original on September 7, 2014.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (June 6, 2016). "Careers | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
"Community-level knowledge sought in new RCMP program".
"Community constables link citizens and police". Thompson Citizen.
"RCMP Reserve Program". Rcmpvetsnb.ca. January 1, 1995. Archived from the original on June 5, 2009. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
"RCMP Reserve Constables in B.C." Archived from the original on September 4, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
"Retired Mounties back in saddle".[permanent dead link]
"Telecommunications Operators". rcmp-grc.gc.ca. July 30, 2010. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
"Ranks of the Force". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. May 21, 2015. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
"Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMPš) / Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) / Gendarmerie royale du Canada (GRC)". uniforminsignia.org.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (April 1, 2019). "Organizational Structure". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca. Archived from the original on February 28, 2009. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (September 14, 2012). "Regular Member - Annual Rates of Pay | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (September 22, 2016). "RCMP executive | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (June 21, 2016). "Commanding Officer | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
p.38 Ross, David & May Robin The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (1873-1987) 1988 Osprey Publishing.
pp.38-39 Ross, David & May, Robin The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (1873-1987) 1988 Osprey Publishing.
pp.38-39 Ross, David & May, Robin The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (1873-1987) 1988 Osprey Publishing
"RCMP and the Monarchy". RCMP Veterans' Association - Vancouver Division. September 6, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
"Diamond Jubilee: Nobody's talking but RCMP has given Queen a horse for Diamond Jubilee". thestar.com. June 1, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
Heritage, Canadian (January 18, 2018). "Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II". aem. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
"Prince Edward concludes royal Alberta visit with canine gift to RCMP". CBC News. June 8, 2009.
"Princess Anne praises slain Canadian soldiers as royal visit to Ottawa begins (with video)". ottawacitizen. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
"Land Transport". Rcmp-grc.gc.ca. November 14, 2006. Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
"Marine Services". Rcmp-grc.gc.ca. Archived from the original on June 22, 2010. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
"Airbus delivers Canada's first H145 to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police". Airbus (Press release). December 19, 2018. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
"RCMP Adopts C8 Carbine - Soldier Systems Daily".
"Under Fire: The carbine". Global News.
"EXCLUSIVE: All RCMP cadets now receiving carbine and active shooter training | Globalnews.ca". globalnews.ca. June 15, 2015.
"Hundreds of faulty RCMP Tasers destroyed or pulled". CTVNews. April 18, 2010.
Leersum, Richard Van (January 1, 2014). "THE GUNS THAT WON THE WEST: THE FIREARMS OF THE N.W.M.P."
Petzal, David E. and Bourjaily, Phil, with Fenson, Brad. The Total Gun Manual (Canadian edition) (San Francisco: WeldonOwen, 2014) Note 44.
Petzal and Bourjaily with Fenson. The Total Gun Manual (Canadian edition), Note 44
Petzal and Bourjaily with Fenson, The Total Gun Manual (Canadian edition), Note 45
"The .455 Colt New Service and the RCMP". Guns and Ammo. December 6, 2016.
Petzal and Bourjaily, Phil, with Fenson. The Total Gun Manual (Canadian edition), Note 44
Phillips, Roger F., & Klancher, Donald J. Arms & [sic] Accoutrements of the Mounted Police 1873-1973 (Bloomfield, ON: Museum Restoration Service, 1982), p.24.
Petzal and Bourjaily with Fenson. The Total Gun Manual (Canadian edition), Note 45
"Royal Canadian Mounted Police - Badges and Insignia". Rcmp-grc.gc.ca. February 16, 2005. Archived from the original on July 6, 2010. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
Force's legacy endures, Toronto Star, March 5, 2005
"The Royal Canadian Mounted Police presents the 30th anniversary of the Canadian Sunset Ceremonies, June 27â30". CNW Group Ltd. June 26, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
"RCMP Musical Ride Sunset Ceremonies". Ottawa Tourism and Convention Authority. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
"RCMP's Canadian Sunset Ceremonies". todoCanada.ca. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
"RCMP Heritage Centre - Sunset Retreat Ceremonies". rcmphc.com.
Barr, William Red Serge and Polar Bear Pants" The Biography of Harry Stallworthy, RCMP University of Alberta Press 2004
"Newfoundland music books food videos images arts crafts". Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
Farnsworth, Clyde H. (February 4, 1995). "For the Mounties, Justice Is Now a Licensing FeeâNew York Times". New York Times. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, "[1]", Retrieved July 28, 2011
CBC Digital Archives "[2]", Retrieved July 28, 2011
"History". RCMP Band. April 26, 2014.
"The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Band". Altissimo!.
Luscombe, Stephen. "Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.britishempire.co.uk.
"ONTARIO - Ottawa - Miscellaneous Obituaries - 130". canadianobits.com.
"RCMP Community Bands of Pipes and Drums". RCMP. Archived from the original on August 27, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
"Band Information: A Community Partnership". RCMP Regina Pipes and Drums. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
"History â "E" Division". RCMP "E" Division Pipe Band (British Columbia). Retrieved December 7, 2019.
"Pipes, Drums and Dancers: Nova Scotia". Retrieved December 7, 2019.
"Tartan". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
Andrew R. Graybill, Policing the Great Plains: Rangers, Mounties, and the North American Frontier, 1875-1910 (University of Nebraska Press, 2007) excerpt and text search
RCMP Website and "Haiti Support Hits the Streets"
Harris, Kathleen. "RCMP could pay up to $100M to female employees who were sexually harassed, abused". CBC News. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
Parrish, Jaskiran Dhillon Will (December 20, 2019). "Exclusive: Canada police prepared to shoot Indigenous activists, documents show". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
Tunney, Catharine (June 12, 2020). "Trudeau has 'serious questions' after watching video of Chief Adam's arrest". CBC News. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
Porter, Catherine; Bilefsky, Dan (June 13, 2020). "Video of Arrest of Indigenous Leader Shocks Canada". The New York Times. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
The Canadian Press (June 24, 2020). "Charges dropped against First Nations Chief Allan Adam in violent arrest". CBC News. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
Cecco, Leyland (June 12, 2020). "First Nations chief shown being punched by Canadian police in video". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
"Full dashcam video of Chief Allan Adam's arrest". CBC News. June 11, 2020.
"Chantel Moore's family calls for justice, public inquiry during healing walk". CBC News. June 13, 2020. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
Tasker, John Paul (June 12, 2020). "Systemic racism exists in the RCMP, Commissioner Brenda Lucki says". CBC News. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
Tunney, Catharine (June 11, 2020). "Systemic racism exists in RCMP, Trudeau argues â after commissioner says she's 'struggling' with the term". CBC News. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
Gillies, Rob (April 19, 2020). "16 killed in shooting rampage, deadliest in Canadian history". AP News. Archived from the original on April 19, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
McMillan, Elizabeth; Mayor, Lisa (November 22, 2020). "13 deadly hours". CBC News. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
"Growing criticism over how Nova Scotia RCMP warned public about killer". Global News. April 21, 2020. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
Palango, Paul (July 18, 2020). "'An epic failure': The first duty of police is to preserve life; through the Nova Scotia massacre, the RCMP saved no one". Halifax Examiner. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
Leffler, Brennan; Lord, Ross (December 12, 2020). "Emotional aftermath: families of victims in Nova Scotia shooting struggle to heal". Global News. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
Boutilier, Alex (June 8, 2021). "RCMP broke privacy laws in using controversial Clearview AI facial recognition tools, watchdog says". Toronto Star. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
External links
Official website Edit this at Wikidata
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Reports 1929-1948 at Dartmouth College Library
vte
Law enforcement agencies in Canada
vte
Departments of the Government of Canada
vte
Canadian Newsmaker of the Year
vte
Police forces by country
Find out more on
Wikipedia's
Sister projects
Media
from CommonsNews stories
from WikinewsSource texts
from WikisourceData
from Wikidata
Canada portalLaw portal
Authority control Edit this at Wikidata
Coordinates: 45.42°N 75.66°W
Categories: Royal Canadian Mounted PoliceFederal departments and agencies of CanadaPublic Safety CanadaCanadian intelligence agenciesGovernment agencies established in 1920Legal history of Canada1920 establishments in CanadaGendarmerieOrganizations based in Canada with royal patronageOrganizations based in OttawaUniformed services of CanadaFederal law enforcement agencies of CanadaNunavut lawNorthwest Territories lawYukon lawNational symbols of CanadaNational police forcesMounted police
Navigation menu
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
ArticleTalk
ReadEditView history
Search
Search Wikipedia
Main page
Contents
Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate
Contribute
Help
Learn to edit
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Cite this page
Wikidata item
Print/export
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Languages
ۧÙŰč۱ۚÙŰ©
Español
Français
Bahasa Indonesia
Đ ŃŃŃĐșĐžĐč
Suomi
Svenska
ŚŚÖŽŚŚŚ©
äžæ
24 more
Edit links
This page was last edited on 14 July 2021, at 02:34 (UTC).
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. WikipediaÂź is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policyAbout WikipediaDisclaimersContact WikipediaMobile viewDevelopersStatisticsCookie statementWikimedia FoundationPowered by MediaWiki
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
"Mountie" redirects here. For other uses, see Mountie (disambiguation).
"RCMP" redirects here. For the TV series, see R.C.M.P. (TV series).
"Royal Mounted Police" redirects here. For the film, see Giubbe rosse.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Gendarmerie royale du Canada (French)
Badge of the RCMP[1]
Badge of the RCMP[1]
Corps ensign[2]
Corps ensign[2]
Abbreviation RCMP/GRC
Motto Maintiens le droit
(French for "Defend the law") [3]
Agency overview
Formed 1 February 1920; 101 years ago[4]
Preceding agencies
Royal Northwest Mounted Police (RNWMP) (1904)
North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) (23 May 1873)
Dominion Police (1868)
Employees 30,092 (2019)
Volunteers Approximately 1,600 Auxiliary Constables[5]
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction Canada
Constituting instruments
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act (RCMP Act)
Various provincial police legislation
General nature
Gendarmerie
Local civilian police
Operational structure
Headquarters M. J. Nadon Government of Canada Building
73 Leikin Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R2[6]
Sworn members
18,986[7] (Apr. 2019)
Unsworn members
11,210[7] (Apr. 2019)
Minister responsible
Bill Blair, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Agency executive
Brenda Lucki, Commissioner
Parent agency Public Safety Canada
Divisions
15[7]
Facilities
Detachments
712[8]
Vehicles
8,677
Boats 5
Fixed-wings 26[9]
Helicopters 8[9]
Notables
Significant incidents
Mayerthorpe tragedy
Spiritwood Incident
Moncton shooting
2020 Nova Scotia attacks
Awards
Battle honours
Canadian Newsmaker of the Year (2007)
Website
rcmp-grc.gc.ca Edit this at Wikidata
While a federal agency, the RCMP also serves as the local law enforcement agency for various provincial, municipal, and First Nations jurisdictions.[10]
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; French: Gendarmerie royale du Canada (GRC)), colloquially known as the Mounties, are the federal and national police service of Canada, providing law enforcement at the federal level. The RCMP also provide provincial policing in eight of Canada's provinces (all except Ontario and Quebec) and local policing on a contract basis in the three territories (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon) and more than 150 municipalities, 600 Indigenous communities, and three international airports. The RCMP do not provide active provincial or municipal policing in Ontario or Quebec.[10] However, all members of the RCMP have jurisdiction as a peace officer in all provinces and territories of Canada.[11] Despite the name, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are no longer an actual mounted police service, with horses only being used at ceremonial events.
As Canada's national police service, the RCMP are primarily responsible for enforcing federal laws throughout Canada, whereas general law and order including the enforcement of the Criminal Code and applicable provincial legislation is constitutionally the responsibility of the provinces and territories. Larger cities may form their own municipal police departments.
The two most populous provinces, Ontario and Quebec, maintain provincial forces: the Ontario Provincial Police and the Sûreté du Québec. The other eight provinces contract policing responsibilities to the RCMP, which provides front-line policing in those provinces under the direction of the provincial governments. When Newfoundland joined the confederation in 1949, the RCMP entered the province and absorbed the Newfoundland Ranger Force, which patrolled most of Newfoundland's rural areas. The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary patrols urban areas of the province. In the territories, the RCMP is the sole territorial police force. Many municipalities throughout Canada contract to the RCMP. Thus, the RCMP polices at the federal, provincial, and municipal level. In some areas of Canada, it is the only police force.
The RCMP is responsible for an unusually large breadth of duties. Under their federal mandate, the RCMP police throughout Canada, including Ontario and Quebec (albeit on smaller scales there). Federal operations include: enforcing federal laws including commercial crime, counterfeiting, drug trafficking, border integrity (excluding border control responsibilities exercised by the Canada Border Services Agency), organized crime, and other related matters; providing counter-terrorism and domestic security; providing protection services for the Canadian monarch, governor general, prime minister, their families and residences, and other ministers of the Crown, visiting dignitaries, and diplomatic missions; and participating in various international policing efforts.
Under provincial and municipal contracts the RCMP provides front-line policing in all areas outside of Ontario and Quebec that do not have an established local police force. There are detachments located in small villages in the far north, remote First Nations reserves, and rural towns, but also larger cities such as Surrey, British Columbia (population 468,251). There, support units investigate for their own detachments, and smaller municipal police forces. Investigations include major crimes, homicides, forensic identification, collision forensics, police dogs, emergency response teams, explosives disposal, and undercover operations. Under its National Police Services branch the RCMP supports all police forces in Canada via the Canadian Police Information Centre, Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, Forensic Science and Identification Services, Canadian Firearms Program, and the Canadian Police College.
Contents
1 History
1.1 Founding
1.2 Post-war
1.2.1 RCMP Security Service
1.3 Modern era
1.4 Notable cases
2 History of the RCMP uniform
2.1 Tunic
2.2 Hat
2.3 Breeches
2.4 Boots
2.5 Spurs
2.6 Sidearms
2.7 Operational uniform
2.8 Decorations
3 Women in the RCMP
4 Military status
4.1 Service in wartime
4.2 Honours
5 Legacy
6 Organization
6.1 International
6.2 National
6.3 Divisions
6.4 Detachments
6.5 Personal Protection Group
7 Personnel
7.1 Regular members
7.2 Auxiliary constables and other staff
7.3 Ranks
7.4 Honorary positions
8 Equipment and vehicles
8.1 Land fleet
8.2 Marine craft
8.3 Aircraft fleet
8.4 Weapons and intervention options
8.4.1 Past weapons and intervention options
8.4.2 Ceremonial weapons and symbols of office
9 Popular awareness
9.1 Early depictions
9.2 Modern culture
9.3 Mountie merchandise and trademark
9.4 RCMP Bands
9.5 RCMP Tartan
10 Controversies and criticism
11 See also
12 Notes
13 References
14 External links
History
Founding
Main article: North-West Mounted Police § history
North-West Mounted Police trooper, c.1900
It was Prime Minister John A. Macdonald who first began planning a permanent force to patrol the North-West Territories after the Dominion of Canada purchased the territory from the Hudson's Bay Company. Macdonald received his inspiration for the creation of the RCMP from the Royal Irish Constabulary, the quasi-military colonial British occupation force of Ireland from 1822 to 1922. Modelled after the RIC, the forerunner of the RCMP, the North West Mounted Police from the outset enforced territorial acquisitions[12] of Canada's westward expansion and served alongside British imperial forces internationally[13][14][15] Reports from army officers surveying the territory led to the recommendation that a mounted force of between 100 to 150 mounted riflemen could maintain law and order. The prime minister first announced the force as the "North West Mounted Rifles". Officials in the United States raised concerns that an armed force along the border was a prelude to a military buildup. Macdonald then renamed the force the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) when formed in 1873.[16]
The force added "royal" to its name in 1904, after having been awarded the title for military service in the Second Boer War. It merged with the Dominion Police, the main police force for all points east of Manitoba, in 1920 and was renamed the "Royal Canadian Mounted Police". The new organization was charged with federal law enforcement in all the provinces and territories, and immediately established its modern role as protector of Canadian national security, as well as assuming responsibility for national counterintelligence.
As part of its national security and intelligence functions, the RCMP infiltrated ethnic or political groups considered to be dangerous to Canada. This included the Communist Party of Canada, but also a variety of Indigenous, minority cultural and nationalist groups.[13] The force was also deeply involved in immigration matters, and especially deportations of suspected radicals. They were especially concerned with Ukrainian groups, both nationalist and socialist.[17] The Chinese community was also targeted because of disproportionate links to opium dens. Historians estimate fully two percent of the Chinese community was deported between 1923 and 1932, largely under the provisions of the Opium and Narcotics Drugs Act.[18] Besides the RCMP's new responsibilities in intelligence, drugs enforcement, and immigration, the force also assisted numerous other federal agencies with tasks such as enforcing attendance of Indigenous children at schools within the Canadian Indian residential school system schools, designed to assimilate them into the dominant Canadian culture.
Mountie, c.1935
In 1935, the RCMP, collaborating with the Regina Police Service, crushed the On-to-Ottawa Trek by sparking the Regina Riot, in which one city police officer and one protester were killed. The Trek, which had been organized to call attention to the abysmal conditions in relief camps, therefore failed to reach Ottawa, but nevertheless had profound political reverberations. The RCMP also lost four officers in Saskatchewan and Alberta that year in what became the 1935 Royal Canadian Mounted Police Killings.
The RCMP employed special constables to assist with strikebreaking in the interwar period. For a brief period in the late 1930s, a volunteer militia group, the Legion of Frontiersmen, were affiliated with the RCMP. Many members of the RCMP belonged to this organization, which was prepared to serve as an auxiliary force. In later years, special constables performed duties such as policing airports and, in some Canadian provinces, the courthouses.
1932 saw the men, vehicles and vessels of the Customs Preventive Service, National Revenue, absorbed by the RCMP. This created the Marine Section and the Excise Section.[19] The acquisition of the RCMP schooner St. Roch facilitated the first effective patrol of Canada's Arctic territory. It was the first vessel to navigate the Northwest Passage from west to east (1940â42), the first to navigate the passage in one season (from Halifax to Vancouver in 1944), the first to sail either way through the passage in one season, and the first to circumnavigate North America (1950).[20]
Counterintelligence work was moved from the RCMP's Criminal Investigation Department to a specialized intelligence branch, the RCMP Security Service, in 1939.
Post-war
On April 1, 1949, Newfoundland joined in full confederation with Canada and the Newfoundland Ranger Force amalgamated with the RCMP.
Following the 1945 defection of Soviet cipher clerk, Igor Gouzenko, and his revelations of espionage, the RCMP Security Service implemented measures to screen out "subversive" elements from the public sector.[21]
In June 1953, the RCMP became a full member of the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol).[22]
Queen Elizabeth II approved in Regina, Saskatchewan, on July 4, 1973, a new badge for the RCMP, in recognition of which the force presented the sovereign with a tapestry rendering of the new design.[23]
RCMP Security Service
The RCMP Security Service was a specialized political intelligence and counterintelligence branch with national security responsibilities, replaced by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in 1984, following revelations of illegal covert operations relating to the Quebec separatist movement.[24] CSIS is not part of the RCMP, but is its own entity. In the late 1970s, revelations surfaced that the RCMP Security Service force had in the course of their intelligence duties engaged in crimes such as burning a barn and stealing documents from the separatist Parti Québécois, and other abuses. This led to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Certain Activities of the RCMP, better known as the "McDonald Commission", named for the presiding judge, Justice David Cargill McDonald. The commission recommended that the force's intelligence duties be removed in favour of the creation of a separate intelligence agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. The RCMP and CSIS nonetheless continue to share responsibility for some law enforcement activities in the contemporary era, particularly in the anti-terrorism context.[25]
Modern era
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Sunset Ceremony 2012
In 1993, the Special Emergency Response Team (SERT), were transferred to the Canadian Forces (CF), creating a new unit called Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2). JTF2 inherited some equipment and SERT's former training base near Ottawa.
In 2006, the United States Coast Guard's Ninth District and the RCMP began a program called "Shiprider", in which 12 Mounties from the RCMP detachment at Windsor and 16 US Coast Guard boarding officers from stations in Michigan ride in each other's vessels. The intent is to allow for seamless enforcement of the international border.[26]
On December 6, 2006, RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli resigned after admitting that his earlier testimony about the Maher Arar terrorist case was inaccurate. The RCMP's actions were scrutinized by the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar. In the aftermath of the Arar affair, the Commission of Inquiry recommended that the RCMP be subject to greater oversight from a review board with investigative and information-sharing capacities.[27] Following the Commission of Inquiry's recommendations, the Harper government tabled amendments to the RCMP Act to create the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission.[27]
Two officers were found guilty of perjury and sentenced to jail for their actions in the 2007 Robert DziekaĆski Taser incident in Vancouver.
In 2007, the RCMP was named Newsmaker of the Year by The Canadian Press.[28]
On June 3, 2013, the RCMP renamed its 'A' Division to National Division and tasked it with handling corruption cases "at home and abroad".[29]
The RCMP also has an aviation security division, the Sky Marshals.[30]
Notable cases
The American stagecoach robber Bill Miner was captured by the RCMP in 1906.[31]
Albert Johnson, known as the Mad Trapper of Rat River, was killed in a shoot-out with the RCMP in 1932.[31]
RCMP officers in Saskatchewan arrested the perpetrator of the Shell Lake murders in 1967.
Anarchist militants known as the Squamish Five were arrested by the RCMP in 1983.
The suspected driver of the reconnaissance vehicle involved in the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing fled to Canada where he was arrested by the RCMP in the winter of 1997 and was extradited to the United States.
Four RCMP officers were fatally shot during an operation in Alberta in March 2005: the Mayerthorpe tragedy was the single worst multiple killing of RCMP officers since the killing of 3 officers in Kamloops British Columbia by a mentally ill assailant in June 1962. Prior to that the RCMP had not felt such a loss since the North-West Rebellion.[32]
In July 2007, two RCMP officers were shot dead in the Spiritwood Incident near Mildred, Saskatchewan.
Three RCMP officers were murdered during the Moncton shooting in New Brunswick in June 2014.[33]
The perpetrator of the 2014 shootings at Parliament Hill, Ottawa was shot and killed at the scene by the RCMP.
RCMP Constable Heidi Stevenson was killed while responding to a mass shooting that left over 20 people dead in Nova Scotia in April 2020.
History of the RCMP uniform
RCMP in dress uniform Canada Day 2015 on Saint Catherine Street, Montreal
The RCMP are famous for their distinctive dress uniform, or "review order", popularly known as the "Red Serge." It has a high collared scarlet tunic, midnight blue breeches with yellow leg stripe, Sam Browne belt with white sidearm lanyard, oxblood riding boots (possibly with spurs), brown felt campaign hat (wide, flat brimmed) with the characteristic "Montana crease", and brown gloves (with brown leather gauntlets for riders). Members wear the review order during the Musical Ride, an equestrian drill in which mounted members show their riding skills and handling of the cavalry lance. On normal duties, the RCMP uses standard police methods, equipment, and uniforms. The RCMP uses horses for ceremonial operations such as escorting the governor general's open landau to the opening of Parliament.
Tunic
The Red Serge tunic that identified the NWMP and later the RNWMP and RCMP, is the standard British military pattern. In the original version, worn from 1873 to 1876, it was based on the civilian Norfolk jacket.[34][35] Originally kitted from militia stores, the NWMP later adopted a standard style that emphasized the force's British heritage and differentiated it from the blue American military uniforms. In 1904, dark blue shoulder straps and collars replaced the uniform's scarlet facings[36] when King Edward VII granted the force "Royal" status for its service in the Second Boer War. Today, RCMP personnel under the rank of inspector wear blue "gorget" patches on the collar, while officers from inspector to commissioner wear solid blue collars and blue pointed-sleeve cuffs.
Members once wore a white haversack on top of this jacket and white gauntlets,[35] which contrasted with the red tunic. The modern dress uniform replaces these easily dirtied items with brown leather riding gloves and carrying pouches on the belt.
Hat
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Although the NWMP contingent at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee wore the campaign hat, it only became official in 1904.
A campaign hat is a broad-brimmed felt or straw hat, with a high crown, pinched symmetrically at the four corners (Montana crown).
The hat is most commonly worn as part of a uniform by such agencies as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the New Zealand Army, United States Park Rangers, and Scouts. The RCMP did not adopt it until about 1904. The original primary summer headdress was the white British foreign service helmet, also known as a pith helmet. This was an impractical choice for the Canadian west,[why?] and RCMP members wore a Stetson type hat on patrol and around camp. Sam Steele is often credited with introducing the Stetson-type hat, and when he left the force to command Lord Strathcona's Horse in South Africa, his unit adopted the Stetson. During winter, members wore a Canadian military fur wedge cap or busby. In British Columbia, the hat features a black bearskin rim belt. They are required to wear the hat while on duty or at ceromonies.
Breeches
The NWMP wore buff or steel grey breeches until they adopted dark blue breeches with yellow-gold strapping (stripes) in 1876.[37] Members often exchanged kit with U.S. cavalry units, and while some believe this was the source for the breeches, the NWMP considered adopting blue breeches with a white strap. Dark blue with yellow-gold strapping is a British cavalry tradition, and most cavalry (later armoured) regiments' dress uniforms feature yellow stripes.
Boots
Black riding boots changed to the modern brown style called "Strathcona boots" or informally as "high browns" and the original crossbelts changed to the brown Sam Browne type. The brown colour of the boots and belt the RCMP wear with the Red Serge are from members who applied coats of polish, often during training at Depot Division.
Spurs
The RCMP's original spurs, known as "long shank spurs," were solid nickel. Their owners occasionally had their regimental number engraved on the inside, and some replaced the rowel with a US buffalo nickel[citation needed] to complement the Mounted Police capbadge and avoid using a Canadian coin that would deface the monarch. The RCMP last issued long shank spurs in 1968.
Sidearms
Sidearms are standard now, but were often not worn in the early years.[citation needed]
Operational uniform
RCMP in everyday uniform
Closeup of shoulder flash on sleeve of operational uniform
The operational uniform is a grey shirt, dark blue trousers with gold stripping, regular patrol boots called "ankle boots", regular duty equipment, and a regular policeman's style cap. Members on operational duty wear a blue Gore-Tex open-collar jacket (patrol jacket), while sergeants major and certain non-commissioned officers (NCOs) involved in recruit training or media relations wear a dark blue jacket (blue serge). Depending on their duties, officers wear white shirts and the patrol jacket or blue serge. During the summer, officers wear a short-sleeved shirt. Winter dress is a long-sleeved shirt. A tie is worn on occasion for events such as testifying in court. In colder weather, members may wear heavier boots, winter coats (storm coats) and a muskrat fur cap or wool toque.
In 1990, Baltej Singh Dhillon became the RCMP's first Sikh officer to be allowed to wear a turban instead of the traditional Stetson.[38] On March 15, the federal government, despite protests, decided they would allow Sikhs to wear their religious headgear while on duty as RCMP officers, as had been the practice for Sikh members of Canadian Forces for decades.
Decorations
The monarch awards the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Long Service Medal to members who have completed 20 years' service. A clasp is awarded for each successive 5 years to 40 years. Members also receive a service badge star for each five years' service, which is worn on the left sleeve. There are specialist insignia for positions such as first aid instructor and dog handler, and pilot's wings are worn by aviators. Sharpshooter badges for proficiency in pistol or rifle shooting are each awarded in two grades.[39]
Women in the RCMP
In the 1920s, Saskatchewan provincial pathologist Frances Gertrude McGill began providing forensic assistance to the RCMP in their investigations.[40] She helped establish the first RCMP forensic laboratory in 1937,[41] and later served as its director for several years. In addition to her forensic work, McGill also provided training to new RCMP and police recruits in forensic detection methods.[40] Upon her retirement in 1946, McGill was appointed honorary surgeon to the RCMP, and continued to act as a dedicated consultant for the force up until her death in 1959.[42]
On May 23, 1974, RCMP Commissioner Maurice Nadon announced that the RCMP would accept applications from women as regular members of the force. Troop 17 was the first group of 32 women at Depot in Regina on September 18 and 19, 1974 for regular training. This first all-female troop graduated from Depot on March 3, 1975.
RCMP officer, 2011
After initially wearing different uniforms, female officers were finally issued the standard RCMP uniforms. Now all officers are identically attired, with two exceptions. The ceremonial dress uniform, or "walking-out order", for female members has a long, blue skirt and higher-heeled slip-on pumps plus small black clutch purse (however, in 2012 the RCMP began to allow women to wear trousers and boots with all their formal uniforms.[43]) The second exception is the official maternity uniform for pregnant female officers assigned to administrative duties.
The following years saw the first women attain certain positions.
1981: corporal, musical ride
1987: foreign post
1990: detachment commander
1992: commissioned officer
1998: assistant commissioner
2000: deputy commissioner
2006: interim commissioner[44][45][note 1]
2018: permanent commissioner[46]
Military status
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Gendarmerie royale du Canada
Guidon Royal Canadian Mounted Police.JPG
Guidon of the RCMP
Active 1873âpresent
Country Canada
Type Dragoons
Size 15 divisions
Garrison/HQ RHQâOttawa
Nickname(s) The "Mounties"
Motto(s) Maintiens le droit (Defending the law, Maintain the right)[47][48][49]
Battle honours see Battle honours
Commanders
Commissioner Brenda Lucki
Commissioner-in-chief The Queen
Honorary commissioner The Prince of Wales[50]
Honorary deputy commissioner The Earl of Wessex[51]
Honorary deputy commissioner The Princess Royal[52]
Insignia
Tartan RCMP
Abbreviation RCMP/GRC
Although the RCMP is a civilian police force, in 1921, following the service of many of its members during the First World War, King George V awarded the force the status of a regiment of dragoons, entitling it to display the battle honours it had been awarded.
Service in wartime
During the Second Boer War, members of the North-West Mounted Police were given leaves of absence to join the 2nd Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles (CMR) and Strathcona's Horse. The force raised the Canadian Mounted Rifles, mostly from NWMP members, for service in South Africa. For the CMR's distinguished service there, King Edward VII honoured the NWMP by changing the name to the "Royal Northwest Mounted Police" (RNWMP) on June 24, 1904.
During the First World War, the Royal Northwest Mounted Police (RNWMP) conducted border patrols, surveillance of enemy aliens, and enforcement of national security regulations within Canada. However, RNWMP officers also served overseas. On August 6, 1914, a squadron of volunteers from the RNWMP was formed to serve with the Canadian Light Horse in France. In 1918, two more squadrons were raised, A Squadron for service in France and Flanders and B Squadron for service in the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force.
In September 1939, at the outset of the Second World War, the Canadian Army had no military police. Five days after war was declared the Royal Canadian Mounted Police received permission to form a provost company of force volunteers. It was designated "No. 1 Provost Company (RCMP)", and became the Canadian Provost Corps. Six months after war was declared its members were overseas in Europe and served throughout the Second World War as military police.
Honours
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were accorded the status of a regiment of dragoons in 1921. As a cavalry regiment, the RCMP was entitled to wear battle honours for its war service as well as carry a guidon, with its first guidon presented in 1935.[53][54] The RCMP mounted the King's Life Guard at Horse Guards Parade in 1937 leading up to the coronation of King George VI. The RCMP mounted the Queen's Life Guard in May 2012 during celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.[55]
Battle honours
North West Canada 1885
South Africa 1900â02
The Great War: France and Flanders 1918, Siberia 1918â19
The Second World War: Europe, 1939â45
Honorary distinction:
The badge of the Canadian Provost Corps (Military Police), presented September 21, 1957, at a Parliament Hill ceremony for contributions to the Corps during the Second World War
Legacy
In 1975, the RCMP dedicated a memorial beside the Fred Light Museum in Battleford, Saskatchewan, consisting of a cemetery with gate, cairn and list of honour plaque to the members of the North-West Mounted Police (1873â1904) and the RCMP.[56]
Organization
International
The RCMP International Operations Branch (IOB) assists the Liaison Officer (LO) Program to deter international crime relating to Canadian criminal laws. The IOB is a section of the International Policing, which is part of the RCMP Federal and International Operations Directorate. Thirty-seven Liaison Officers are placed in 23 other countries and are responsible for organizing Canadian investigations in other countries, developing and maintaining the exchange of criminal intelligence, especially national security with other countries, to provide assistance in investigations that directly affect Canada, to coordinate and assist RCMP officers on foreign business and to represent the RCMP at international meetings.[57] Liaison Officers are located in:
Africa & Middle East:
Morocco Rabat, Morocco
South Africa Pretoria, South Africa
Jordan Amman, Jordan
United Arab Emirates Dubai, U.A.E.
Asia-Pacific:
India New Delhi, India
Pakistan Islamabad, Pakistan
Thailand Bangkok, Thailand
Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR
China Beijing, China
Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Sri Lanka Colombo, Sri Lanka
Europe:
United Kingdom London, United Kingdom
France Paris, France
Germany Berlin, Germany
Netherlands The Hague, Netherlands
Italy Rome, Italy
The Americas:
Jamaica Kingston, Jamaica
Mexico Mexico City, Mexico
Colombia Bogota, Colombia
Venezuela Caracas, Venezuela
Brazil Brasilia, Brazil
Dominican Republic Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Trinidad and Tobago Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
United States:
Florida Miami, Florida
New York (state) New York, New York
Washington (state) Seattle, Washington
Washington, D.C.
The RCMP was a member agency in the Afghan Threat Finance Cell, and RCMP officers were embedded with military units in Afghanistan.[58]
National
The RCMP is organized under the authority of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act (RCMP Act), an act of the Parliament of Canada. Pursuant to sections 3 and 4 of the RCMP Act, the RCMP is a police force for Canadaânamely, a federal police force.[59] However, section 20 of the RCMP Act provides that the RCMP may be used for law enforcement in provinces or municipalities if certain conditions are met.[60] As explained by Justice Ivan Rand of the Supreme Court of Canada, "what is set up is a police force for the whole of Canada to be used in the enforcement of the laws of the Dominion, but at the same time available for the enforcement of law generally in such provinces as may desire to employ its services."[61]
Pursuant to section 5 of the RCMP Act,[62] the agency is headed by the commissioner of the RCMP, who, under the direction of the minister of public safety and emergency preparedness, has the control and management of the force and all matters connected therewith. The RCMP is provided with a senior executive committee (SEC) which[63]
is the senior decision making forum established by the Commissioner for the development and approval of strategic, force-wide policies, pursuant to and consistent with the Commissioner's authority under section 5 of the RCMP Act. The role of [the] SEC is to develop, promote and communicate strategic priorities, strategic objectives, management strategies and performance management for the purpose of direction and accountability.
The commissioner is assisted by deputy commissioners in charge of:[64]
Federal and international policing
Specialized Policing Services
National Police Services
Contract and Indigenous Policing
Human resources
East
National Division (Formerly "A" Division)
National headquarters
Newfoundland and Labrador ("B" Division)
New Brunswick ("J" Division)
Nova Scotia ("H" Division)
Ontario ("O" Division)
Prince Edward Island ("L" Division)
Quebec ("C" Division)
West
Alberta ("K" Division)
British Columbia ("E" Division)
Manitoba ("D" Division)
Northwest Territories ("G" Division)
Nunavut ("V" Division)
Saskatchewan ("F" Division)
Yukon ("M" Division)
Divisions
The RCMP divides the country into divisions for command purposes. In general, each division is coterminous with a province (for example, C Division is Quebec). The province of Ontario, however, is divided into two divisions: National Division (Ottawa) and O Division (rest of the province). There is one additional division â Depot Division, which is the RCMP Academy at Regina, Saskatchewan, and the Police Dog Service Training Centre[65] at Innisfail, Alberta. The RCMP headquarters are located in Ottawa, Ontario.
National Division building in Ottawa
National Division (formerly A Division): National Capital Region (Ottawa, Ontario, and Gatineau, Quebec)[66]
B Division: Newfoundland and Labrador[67]
C Division: Quebec[68]
D Division: Manitoba[68]
E Division: British Columbia[citation needed]
F Division: Saskatchewan[69]
G Division: Northwest Territories[70]
H Division: Nova Scotia[71]
J Division: New Brunswick[72]
K Division: Alberta[73]
L Division: Prince Edward Island[74]
M Division: Yukon[75]
O Division: Ontario[76]
V Division: Nunavut[77]
Depot Division at Regina and the Police Dog Service Training Centre[65] at Innisfail.
Detachments
A detachment is a section of the RCMP which polices a local area. Detachments vary greatly in size. The largest single RCMP detachment is in the city of Surrey in British Columbia, with over a thousand employees. Surrey has contracted with the RCMP for policing services since 1951.[78] The second-largest RCMP detachment is in Burnaby, also in British Columbia.[79] Conversely, detachments in small, isolated rural communities have as few as three officers. The RCMP formerly had many single-officer detachments in these areas,[80][81] but in 2012 the RCMP announced that it was introducing a requirement that detachments should have at least three officers.[81]
Personal Protection Group
The Personal Protection Group or PPG is a 180-member group responsible for security details for VIPs, the prime minister, and the governor general.[82] It was created after the 1995 incident at 24 Sussex Drive.[83]
Units under the PPG consists of:
Prime Minister Protective Detail provides bodyguards to protect the prime minister of Canada in Canada and abroad. This unit is based in Ottawa with operations at 24 Sussex Drive and Harrington Lake near Chelsea, Quebec.
Governor General's Protection Detail provides bodyguards to protect the governor general of Canada in Canada and abroad. This unit is based in Ottawa with operations at Rideau Hall.
Very Important Persons Security Section (VIPSS) provides security details to VIP (including the chief justice of Canada, federal ministers, and diplomats) and others under the direction of the minister of public safety.
Personnel
An RCMP chief superintendent (foreground) attends the opening of an Operational Integration Centre, alongside representatives of US counterpart agencies.
As of April 1, 2019, the RCMP employed 30,196 men and women, including police officers, civilian members, and Public Service Employees.[7]
Actual personnel strength by ranks:
Commissioners: 1
Deputy commissioners: 6
Assistant commissioners: 28
Chief superintendents: 57
Superintendents: 187
Inspectors: 322
Corps sergeants major: 1
Sergeants major: 8
Staff sergeants major: 9
Staff sergeants: 838
Sergeants: 2,018
Corporals: 3,599
Constables: 11,913
Special constables: 122
Civilian members: 7,695
Public servants: 3,403
Total: 30,196
Regular members
The term regular member, or RM, originates from the RCMP Act and refers to the 18,988 regular RCMP officers who are trained and sworn as peace officers, and include all the ranks from constable to commissioner. They are the police officers of the RCMP and are responsible for investigating crime and have the authority to make arrests. RMs operate in over 750 detachments, including 200 municipalities and more than 600 Indigenous communities. RMs are normally assigned to general policing duties at an RCMP detachment for a minimum of three years. These duties allow them to experience a broad range of assignments and experiences, such as responding to emergency (9-1-1) calls, foot patrol, bicycle patrol, traffic enforcement, collecting evidence at crime scenes, testifying in court, apprehending criminals and plain clothes duties. Regular members also serve in over 150 different types of operational and administrative opportunities available within the RCMP, these include: major crime investigations, emergency response, forensic identification, forensic collision reconstruction, international peacekeeping, bike or marine patrol, explosives disposal and police dog services. Also included are administrative roles including human resources, corporate planning, policy analysis and public affairs.
Auxiliary constables and other staff
Besides the regular RCMP officers, several types of designations exist which give them assorted powers and responsibilities over policing issues.
Currently, there are:
Community constables: Varies across Canada[citation needed]
Reserve constables : Varies across Canada[84]
Auxiliary constables: Varies across Canada[85]
Special constables: 122[7]
Civilian members: 7,590[7]
Public servants: 3,497[7]
Community constables (CC)
A designation introduced in 2014 as a replacement for the community safety officers and Indigenous community constables pilot programs.[86][87] Community constables are armed, paid members holding the rank of special constables, with peace officer power.[88] They are to provide a bridge between the local citizens and the RCMP using their local and cultural knowledge[89] They are mostly focused on crime prevention, liaisons with the community, and providing resources in the event of a large-scale event.[90]
Reserve constables (R/Cst.)
A program reinstated in 2004 in British Columbia, it was later expanded to cover all of Canada in order to allow for retired, regular RCMP members and other provincially trained officers to provide extra manpower when shortages are identified.[91] R/Cst. are appointed under Section 11 of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act as paid part-time, armed officers with the same powers as regular members.[92] However, they are not allowed to carry force-issued sidearms and use of force options unless they are called upon to duty.[91] They generally carry out community policing roles but may also be called upon if an emergency occurs.[91][93]
Auxiliary constables (A/Cst.)
Volunteers within their own community, appointed under provincial police acts.[85] They are not police officers and can not identify themselves as such. However, they are given peace officer powers when on duty with a regular member (RM). Their duties consist mainly of assisting RMs in routine events, for example cordoning off crime scene areas, crowd control, participating in community policing, assistance during situations where regular members might be overwhelmed with their duties (e.g., keeping watch of a backseat detainee while RM interviews a victim). They are identified by the wording of "RCMP Auxiliary" on cars, jackets and shoulder flashes
Special constables (S/Cst.)
Employees of the RCMP have varied duties depending on where they are deployed, but are often given this designation because of an expertise they possess which needs to be applied in a certain area. For example, an Indigenous person might be appointed a special constable in order to assist regular members as they police an Indigenous community where English is not well understood, and where the special constable speaks the language well. They still perform this role today in many isolated northern communities and the RCMP has 122 special constables who are active in the RCMP today, and they are drawn almost entirely from the same Indigenous communities that they serve.
From the early years of policing in northern Canada, and well into the 1950s, local Indigenous peoples were hired by the RCMP as special constables and were employed as guides and to obtain and care for sled dog teams. Many of these former special constables still reside in the north to this day and are still involved in regimental functions of the RCMP.
Civilian members of the RCMP
While not delegated the powers of police officers, they are instead hired for their specialized scientific, technological, communications and administrative skills. Since the RCMP is a multi-faceted law enforcement organization with responsibilities for federal, provincial and municipal policing duties, it offers employment opportunities for civilian members as professional partners within Canada's national police force.
Civilian members represent approximately 14% of the total RCMP employee population, and are employed within RCMP establishments in most geographical areas of Canada. The following is a list of the most common categories of employment that may be available to interested and qualified individuals.
Operations
Telecommunications operator (dispatcher)[94]
Scientific
Toxicology
Chemistry
Biology â DNA
Law
Technical
Forensic identification services
Instrument technology
Document examination
Counterfeit analysis
Firearms technology
Electronics technology
Information technology
Communications
Computer systems development
Telecommunications
Information services/public affairs
Administrative
Policy development and analysis
Staff development and training
Human resource management
Translation
Police Records Information Management Environment (PRIME-BC)
Public service employees
Also referred to as public servants, PSes or PSEs, they provide much of the administrative support for the RCMP in the form of detachment clerks and other administrative support at the headquarters level. They are not police officers, do not wear a uniform, have no police authority and are not bound by the RCMP Act.
Municipal employees
Abbreviated as "ME" they are found in RCMP detachments where a contract exists with a municipality to provide front-line policing. MEs are not actually employees of the RCMP, but are instead employed by the local municipality to work in the RCMP detachment. They conduct the same duties that a PSE would and are required to meet the same reliability and security clearance to do so. Many detachment buildings house a combination of municipally and provincially funded detachments, and therefore there are often PSEs and MEs found working together in them.
Ranks
See also: Police ranks in Canada
The rank system of the RCMP is partly a result of their origin as a paramilitary force. Upon its founding, the RCMP adopted the rank insignia of the Canadian Army (which in turn came from the British Army), which is almost identical to that of the current Canadian Army. Like in a military, the RCMP also has a distinction between commissioned and non-commissioned officers.[95] The non-commissioned ranks are mostly based on military ranks (apart from constable). Non-commissioned officer ranks above staff sergeant resemble those that formerly existed in the Canadian Army, but have since been replaced by warrant officers.[96] The commissioned officer ranks, by contrast, use a set of non-military titles that are often used in Commonwealth police services. The number of higher ranks like chief superintendent and deputy commissioner have been added on and increased since the formation of the force, while the lower commissioned rank of sub-inspector has been dropped.
The numbers are current as of April 1, 2019:[97]
Commissioned officers
Commissioner Deputy commissioner Assistant commissioner Chief superintendent Superintendent Inspector
Commissaire Sous-commissaire Commissaire adjoint Surintendant principal Surintendant Inspecteur
Commr. D/Commr. A/Commr. C/Supt. Supt. Insp.
1 6 33 55 186 331
RCMP Commissioner insignia.svg
RCMP Deputy Commissioner insignia.svg
RCMP Assistant Commissioner insignia.svg
RCMP Chief Superintendent insignia.svg
RCMP Superintendent insignia.svg
RCMP Inpsector insignia.svg
[98] These are the official abbreviations for the commissioned and non-commissioned officers in the RCMP.[99][100]
Non-commissioned officers Constables Depot
Corps sergeant major Sergeant major Staff sergeant major Staff sergeant Sergeant Corporal Constable Cadet
Sergent-major du corps Sergent-major Sergent-major d'Ă©tat major Sergent d'Ă©tat-major Sergent Caporal Gendarme Cadet
C/S/M. S/M. S/S/M. S/Sgt. Sgt. Cpl. Cst. no abbreviation
1 8 10 828 2,037 3,565 11,859 Varies
RCMP Corps Sergeant Major insignia.svg
RCMP Sergeant Major insignia.svg
RCMP Staff Sergeant Major insignia.svg
RCMP Staff Sergeant insignia.svg
RCMP Sergeant insignia.svg
RCMP Corporal insignia.svg
RCMP Constable insignia.svg
RCMP Cadet Insignia.svg
The ranks of inspector and higher are commissioned ranks and are appointed by the Governor-in-Council. Depending on the dress, badges are worn on the shoulder as slip-ons, on shoulder boards, or directly on the epaulettes. The lower ranks are non-commissioned officers and the insignia continues to be based on pre-1968 Canadian Army patterns. Since 1990, the non-commissioned officers' rank insignia has been embroidered on the epaulette slip-ons. Non-commissioned rank badges are worn on the right sleeve of the scarlet/blue tunic and blue jacket. The constables wear no rank insignia. There are also 122 special constables, as well as a varying number of reserve constables, auxiliary constables, and students who wear identifying insignia.
The star, or "pip", used in the insignia of commissioned officers represents the military Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. The Order's motto (tria juncta in uno, "three joined in one", referring to the holy trinity) is inscribed in a band in the middle of it. The three crowns inset in the centre not only represent the Christian Trinity, but also the three former kingdoms that became the United Kingdom. The RCMP formerly had subaltern (junior officer) ranks that were indicated by one "pip" for a sub-inspector (equivalent to an army second lieutenant) to three "pips" for an inspector (equivalent to an army captain).[101] A reorganization in 1960 changed the insignia to three "pips" for sub-inspectors[102] and a crown for inspectors,[103] making the latter a field officer rank. The rank of sub-inspector was abolished in 1990, leaving the RCMP with no subaltern ranks.
A royal crown is used in the regimental cap badge and the insignia of senior commissioned officers. In 1955 St. Edward's Crown replaced the Tudor Crown. Although Queen Elizabeth II had adopted the redesign of the heraldic crown in 1953, it took some time to design, approve, and manufacture the new insignia.
The crossed Mameluke sabre and baton is the insignia for general officers. In the RCMP it designates the commissioner (equivalent to an Army general) and their subordinate deputy commissioners (equivalent to Army lieutenant-generals). The assistant commissioners use the crown-over-three-pips insignia of an Army brigadier.
The brass shoulder title pin on the epaulettes was changed from "RCMP" to "GRC-RCMP" in 1968. (GRC stands for Gendarmerie royale du Canada, the RCMP's French-language title). This was due to a 1968 ruling stating that all statutes had to be published bilingually in both English and French. As a law enforcement agency, the RCMP had to use ranks and titles in both languages. This was later reinforced by the Official Languages Act.
Honorary positions
RCMP honorary titles
Position Honorary holder Since Notes
Commissioner-in-Chief Queen Elizabeth II May 10, 2012[104][105] In celebration of her Diamond Jubilee; formerly an Honorary Commissioner[104] from 1953[106]
Honorary Commissioner Charles, Prince of Wales May 10, 2012[104] Assumed the title of Honorary Commissioner when the Queen was granted Commissioner-in-Chief
Honorary Commissioner Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex June 8, 2009[107][better source needed]
Honorary Deputy Commissioner Anne, Princess Royal November 10, 2014[108]
Various members of the Canadian royal family have been granted honorary titles by the RCMP. Queen Elizabeth II, initially appointed Honorary Commissioner in 1953 was made Commissioner-in-Chief in celebration of her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Upon her new appointment, her son, Charles, Prince of Wales was made an Honorary Commissioner.[106] Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex was made an Honorary Commissioner during a royal visit in 2009.[107][better source needed] Anne, Princess Royal was made Honorary Deputy Commissioner during a visit to Canada in 2014.[108]
Equipment and vehicles
Land fleet
RCMP truck at G20 Summit in Toronto
Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor at Parliament Hill in Ottawa
The RCMP Land Transport Fleet inventory includes:[109]
Cars: 5,330
Unmarked vehicles: 2,811
Light trucks: 2,090
Heavy trucks: 123
SUVs: 616
Motorcycles: 34
Small snowmobiles: 481
All-terrain vehicles: 181
Gas railway cars: 1
Tractors: 27
Buses: 3
Total: 11,697
Marine craft
RCMP-CCG vessel Simmonds with CCGS Cape Hurd
The RCMP polices Canadian Internal Waters, including the territorial sea and contiguous zone as well as the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway; such operations are provided by the RCMP's Federal Services Directorate and includes enforcing Canada's environment, fisheries, customs and immigration laws. In provinces and municipalities where the RCMP performs contract policing, the force polices freshwater lakes and rivers.
To meet these challenges, the RCMP operates the Marine Division, with five Robert Allan Ltd.âdesigned high-speed catamaran patrol vessels; Inkster and the Commissioner-class Nadon, Higgitt, Lindsay and Simmonds, based on all three coasts and manned by officers specially trained in maritime enforcement. Inkster is based in Prince Rupert, BC, Simmonds is stationed on Newfoundland's south coast, and the rest are on the Pacific Coast.[110] Simmonds' livery is unique, in that it sports the RCMP badge, but is otherwise painted with Canadian Coast Guard colours and the marking Coast Guard Police. The other four vessels are painted with blue and white RCMP colours.
The RCMP operates 377 smaller boats, defined as vessels less than 9.2 m (30 ft) long, at locations across Canada. This category ranges from canoes and car toppers to rigid-hulled inflatables and stable, commercially built, inboard-outboard vessels. Individual detachments often have smaller high-speed rigid-hulled inflatable boats and other purpose-built vessels for inland waters, some of which can be hauled by road to the nearest launching point.[110]
RCMP ship fleet
Ship name Type Class Base Specifications Propulsion Top speed Builder Year commissioned Crew
Inkster Patrol vessel n/a Prince Rupert, BC 19.75 m (64.8 ft)
fast patrol aluminium catamaran 25 kn (46 km/h; 29 mph)+ Allied Shipbuilders Limited of North Vancouver, BC 1996 4
Nadon Patrol vessel Commissioner Class PV (Raven Class) Nanaimo, BC 17.7 m (58 ft)
fast patrol catamaran 2 Ă 820 hp (610 kW) D2840 LE401 V-10 MAN Diesel engines 36 kn (67 km/h; 41 mph) Robert Allan Ltd. 1991 4
Higgitt Patrol vessel Commissioner Class PV Campbell River, BC 17.7 m (58 ft)
fast patrol catamaran 2 Ă 820 hp (610 kW) D2840 LE401 V-10 MAN Diesel engines 36 kn (67 km/h; 41 mph) Robert Allan Ltd. 1992 4
Lindsay Patrol vessel Commissioner Class PV Patricia Bay, Victoria, BC 17.7 m (58 ft)
fast patrol catamaran 2 Ă 820 hp (610 kW) D2840 LE401 V-10 MAN Diesel engines 36 kn (67 km/h; 41 mph) Robert Allan Ltd. 1993 4
Simmonds Patrol vessel Commissioner Class PV South coast Newfoundland 17.7 m (58 ft)
fast patrol catamaran 2 Ă 820 hp (610 kW) D2840 LE401 V-10 MAN Diesel engines 36 kn (67 km/h; 41 mph) Robert Allan Ltd. 1995 4
Aircraft fleet
RCMP Pilatus PC-12
As of December 2018 the RCMP had 34 aircraft (8 helicopters and 26 fixed-wing aircraft) registered with Transport Canada.[9] The new Airbus H145 is still currently registered to Airbus. All aircraft are operated and maintained by the Air Services Branch.
RCMP Fleet
Aircraft Number[9] Variants Notes
Airbus H145 1[111] H145 Helicopter, light twin-engine, 4-axis autopilot.
Serving the Lower Mainland of BC ("E" Division)
Eurocopter AS350 Ăcureuil 6 AS 350B3 Helicopter, AStar 350 or "Squirrel"
Cessna 206 5 U206G, T206H Fixed wing, Stationair (Station wagon of the Air), general aviation aircraft
Cessna 208 Caravan 3 208, 208B Fixed wing, Caravan, short-haul regional airliner and utility aircraft
de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 1 300 Series Fixed wing, 20-passenger STOL feederliner and utility aircraft, twin-engine.
Eurocopter EC120 Colibri 2 EC 120B Light helicopter, "Hummingbird"
Pilatus PC-12 16 PC-12/45, PC-12/47, PC-12/47E Fixed wing, turboprop passenger and cargo aircraft
Quest Kodiak 1 100 Fixed wing, un-pressurized, turboprop-powered fixed-tricycle-gear, STOL
Weapons and intervention options
RCMP issue Smith & Wesson Model 5946 service pistol with Hogue grip
RCMP issue Taser International X-26 conducted energy weapon
Smith & Wesson Model 5946 (1992âPresent) - Standard full-sized service sidearm. It is stainless-steel, double-action only, with a 4 in (100 mm) barrel and a double-column 15-round magazine. Emergency Response Team (ERT) and dog handler members were issued a modified Model 5946 with its magazine safety removed until it was replaced by the SIG Sauer P226R.
Smith & Wesson Model 3953 (1996âPresent) - Special issue compact sidearm for plainclothes members and commissioned officers. It can also be requested as a service pistol by members with small hands who cannot positively grip the larger Model 5946. It is similar to the Model 5946 except it has a shorter 3.5 in (89 mm) barrel, a shortened grip, and a single-column 8-round magazine.
SIG Sauer 226R (9Ă19mm ) - Standard issue sidearm for ERT and dog-handler members. It replaced the modified Model 5946 that had been previously issued.
Glock Model 19 - Special issue sidearm for Canadian Air Carrier Protective Program (CACPP) members.
Heckler & Koch MP5 - Adopted by ERT
Remington Model 700P (.308 Winchester) bolt-action rifle.
Remington 870 12-gauge shotgun
Colt Canada C7 rifle (5.56mm NATO)
Colt Canada C8 carbine (5.56mm NATO) - Adopted by ERT in
?Colt Canada C8 IUR (Integrated Upper Receiver ) 5.56mm NATO. The semi-automatic C8 IUR was adopted for general use in October, 2011,[112] but the first batch were not procured until 2013.[113] The first RCMP Cadets began qualifying on the C8 IUR and receiving Active Shooter training in 2015.[114]
Taser International M26, X26, & X26P. Following the Robert DziekaĆski Incident, all older M26 models and 60 faulty X26 models in stock were removed and destroyed in 2010 due to being outside of specifications.[115]
Oleoresin capsicum spray
ASP and Monadnock expandable defensive batons
Past weapons and intervention options
Rifle
Canadian Arsenals Limited (CAL) C1A1 - issued in 7.62mm NATO. Canadian variant of the L1A1 and FN FAL produced under licence by Canadian Arsenals Limited (CAL) (Long Branch). The RCMP's rifles were sourced from the testing batch of FALs received from Fabrique Nationale and had been rebuilt by CAL to meet C1A1 standards. Used from 1961 to 1969.
Winchester Model 70 Issued in .308 Winchester. Used from 1960-1973. This rifle was replaced by the Remington 700.
LeeâEnfield No. 4 Mk 1 - issued in .303 British. World War II surplus rifles used from 1947 to 1966. Replaced by CAL C1A1 and Winchester 70.
Short Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE) No. 1 Mk III - issued in .303 British. World War I surplus rifles used from 1919-1947.[116]
Lee-Enfield Carbine (LEC) - issued in .303 British. Procured as military surplus from Militia stores to replace the unsatisfactory Ross Rifle. Used from 1914 to 1920. This was the last general-issue rifle used by the NWMP. The RCMP that replaced it only issued rifles according to need.
Ross rifle - issued in .303 British. The Ross Mk I was issued from 1905 to 1907 and the improved Ross Mk II was in testing from 1909 to 1912.[116] The Mk I design was accepted by the Canadian Militia in 1903. The NWMP looked at acquiring the Ross to replace the Winchester and Lee-Metford and ordered 1000. Production problems led to delays until 1904; the most glaring being that the finished product did not match their original specifications.[116] The NWMP demanded their contract carbines use a different set of iron sight (which later became standard on the Mk II) which delayed production for a further year.[116] The carbines received in 1905 were plagued with quality control problems that made them more fragile than the weapons they were to replace. After a constable suffered an eye injury in 1907 the Ross carbines were withdrawn.[116] When the improved Ross Mk II rifles arrived in 1909 the wary NWMP decided to test fire all of them fully before issuing them. A fire at the depot in Regina in 1911 destroyed almost all of the new rifles.[116] The NWMP then gave up on the Ross.
Magazine Lee-Enfield (MLE) Mk.I rifle - issued in .303 British; it was the first smokeless-powder weapon in NWMP service. Loaned to the NWMP from the Victoria and Winnipeg militias to replace a stolen cache of M1876 Winchesters. The NWMP "forgot" to give them back later. Used from 1902 to 1920.
Lee-Metford Carbine - issued in .303 British. The Metford rifling gave tighter groups when fired than the later Enfield, but the rifling wore out faster. Only 200 procured. Used from 1895 to 1914. Replaced by the Lee-Enfield Carbine.
Winchester Model 1876 saddle carbineâissued in .45-75 Winchester. Popular for its handiness and rate of fire, but it was too fragile for the rough handling and use it received in the field. Used from 1878 until 1914.[117] and replaced by the Lee-Enfield Carbine.
SniderâEnfield Mark III Cavalry carbine - issued in .577 Snider. Single-shot breach-loading conversion of an Enfield caplock muzzle-loader. Used from 1873 to 1878 and replaced by the Winchester Model 1876 lever-action rifle.
Service Pistol
Smith & Wesson Military & Police revolverâissued with 5 in (130 mm) barrel, in .38 Special. It served more than forty years from 1954 to 1996. Plainclothes members carried a variant with a 4 in (100 mm) barrel.
In 1981, the standard loading was changed from a 158 gr (0.36 oz; 10.2 g) .38 Special Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) ball round to a 158 gr (0.36 oz; 10.2 g) .38 Special +P Semi-WadCutter Hollow-Point (SWCHP), a violation of the Hague Convention of 1899 if used in a military context.[118]
Colt New Service revolver â issued with 5.5 in (140 mm) barrel; 700 ordered in .455 Webley in 1904, with .45 Long Colt versions being delivered from 1919; in all, over 3200 issued.[118][116] 455 Webley was the British military service round and .45 Long Colt was the standard Canadian service round until both were replaced by the NATO-standard 9x19mm Parabellum post World War II. Used from 1904 to 1954.
Enfield Mark II revolverâissued in .476 Enfield, about 1080 Mark IIs obtained from Britain's Ministry of Defence, after it was learned the BeaumontâAdams had been discontinued.[119][116] The remaining .450 Adams ammunition, which was compatible with the .476 Enfield round, was issued until stocks were depleted. Used from 1882 to 1911.
BeaumontâAdams revolverâfirst issue weapon, in .450 Adams. 330 Mark Is purchased from Britain's Ministry of Defence in 1873 and issued after delivery in 1874. Rough handling of the crates in transit, poor packing by the contractor who shipped the guns, and previous service wear made them unsuitable for service.[116] The constables sometimes had to manually turn the cylinder due to cracked feed hands or keep both hands on the grips for the springs to work due to loose screws.[120] Later, these were to be replaced by 330 Enfield Mark IIs,[121] but many were stolen en route.[120] Used from 1874 to 1888.
Pistols
Because of procurement problems with the BeaumontâAdams revolvers, constables sometimes carried their own sidearms chambered in a standard service caliber.
Tranter revolver - chambered in .450 Adams, the standard service round. It was similar to the Beaumont-Adams revolver it was substituted for.
Smith & Wesson Model 3 revolver - chambered in .44 Russian, a very powerful cartridge in its day. Thirty were purchased in 1874 by the NWMP to field-test the .44 Russian round for service. Its non-standard chambering and the difficulty to get ammunition for it led to its being withdrawn.
Webley & Scott Bull Dog revolver[122] - chambered in .450 Adams. Its small size made it a handy backup pistol. Most were originally procured to arm NWMP constables assigned to protecting mail cars on trains. The constables would sometimes "absent-mindedly forget" to hand the pistols back afterwards.
Sidearms
1821 pattern Light Cavalry Sabre - Originally part of a trove of old swords given by the Canadian Militia to the NWMP as weapons. They were returned to stores in 1880. Later issued to commissioned officers in 1882 as ceremonial sidearms and a sign of rank. This was later replaced by the M1896 Light Cavalry Sabre.
1853 pattern Cavalry Sabre - Originally part of a trove of old swords given by the Canadian Militia to the NWMP as weapons. They were returned to stores in 1880. Later issued in 1882 to non-commissioned officers as ceremonial sidearms and a sign of rank. This was later replaced by the 1821 pattern sabre.
1896 pattern Light Cavalry Sabre - Replaced the 1821 pattern sabre as the NWMP officer's ceremonial sword.
1908 pattern cavalry saber - Carried by the Mounted Police detachment sent to Siberia in 1918 during the Russian Civil War.
Straightstick baton manufactured in wood and plastic
Sap gloves Prohibited by RCMP Policy. Not currently used.
Ceremonial weapons and symbols of office
1912 pattern cavalry officer's sword carried by officers. Blade is acid etched both sides with the monarch's crown, Canadian coat of Arms, royal cypher and RCMP badge.
1908 pattern cavalry sword carried by NCOs on the Musical Ride
Bamboo-shafted lance carried by members on horseback on the Musical Ride. The lance is used as a decorative item and is flourished during trick and formation riding. The pennant is red over white, the national colours of the Canadian flag. It represents the Pattern 1868 cavalry lance carried by the NWMP in the 1870s.
Drill cane
Swagger stick
Commissioner's tipstaff
In 1973, Wilkinson Sword produced a number of commemorative swords to celebrate the RCMP centennial. None of these swords were ever used ceremonially, and were strictly collectibles. Wilkinson Sword also made a commemorative centennial tomahawk and miniature "letter opener" models of their centennial swords.
In 1973, Winchester Repeating Arms Company produced an RCMP commemorative centennial version of their Model 94 rifle in .30-30 Winchester, with a 22 in (560 mm) round barrel. The receiver, buttplate, and forend cap (on the musket-style forend) were plated in gold. Commemorative medallions were embedded in the right-hand side of the stock, with an "MP" engraving. There was engraving on the barrel and receiver indicating the rifle was a centennial commemorative edition. Sights were open notch rear, with a flip-up rear ladder, graduated to 2,000 yd (1,800 m). Two versions were produced, 9500 with serial numbers beginning "RCMP" for commercial sale, 5000 with the prefix "MP" sold only to serving RCMP members. In addition, ten presentation models were produced, serialled RCMP1P to RCMP10P. (The production of this commemorative is ironic, since the Winchester 94 was never used by the RCMP.)[123]
Popular awareness
Canadian flag carried by RCMP at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver
The Mounties have been immortalized as symbols of Canadian culture in numerous Hollywood Northwestern movies and television series, which often feature the image of the Mountie as square-jawed, stoic, and polite, yet with a steely determination and physical toughness that sometimes appears superhuman. Coupled with the adage that the Mountie "always gets his man," the image projects them as fearsome, incorruptible, dogged yet gentle champions of the law. The RCMP's motto is actually the French Maintiens le droit, which has been translated into the English "Defending the Law" or "Maintain the right".[124][47][49] The Hollywood motto derives from a comment by a Montana newspaper, the Fort Benton Record: "They fetch their man every time".[125] The RCMP Sunset Ceremony (French: Cérémonie du crépuscule) has taken place every summer since 1989 at the Musical Ride Centre in Ottawa,[126][127] with it in recent years featuring the Ottawa Police Service Pipe Band and the Governor General's Foot Guards Band.[128][129]
Early depictions
In 1912, Ralph Connor's Corporal Cameron of the North-West Mounted Police: A Tale of the MacLeod Trail appeared, becoming an international best-selling novel. Mounties fiction became a popular genre in both pulp magazines and book form. Among the best-selling authors who specialized in tales of the Mounted Police were James Oliver Curwood, Laurie York Erskine, James B Hendryx, T Lund, Harwood Steele (the son of Sam Steele), and William Byron Mowery.
In other media, a famous example is the radio and television series, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. Dudley Do-Right (of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show) is a 1960s example of the comic aspect of the Mountie myth, as is Klondike Kat, from Total Television. The Broadway musical and Hollywood movie Rose-Marie is a 1930s example of its romantic side. A successful combination were a series of Renfrew of the Royal Mounted boy's adventure novels written by Laurie York Erskine beginning in 1922 running to 1941. In the 1930s Erskine narrated a Sgt Renfrew of the Mounties radio show and a series of films with actor-singer James Newill playing Renfrew were released between 1937 and 1940. In 1953 portions of the films were mixed with new sequences of Newill for a Renfrew of the Mounted television series.
Bruce Carruthers (b.1901âd.1953), a former Mounted Police corporal (1919â1923), served as an unofficial technical advisor to Hollywood in many films with RCMP characters.[130] They included Heart of the North (1938), Susannah of the Mounties (1939), Northern Pursuit (1943), Gene Autry and The Mounties (1951), The Wild North (1952), and The Pony Soldier (1952).
Modern culture
In 1959, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired R.C.M.P., a half-hour dramatic series about an RCMP detachment keeping the peace and fighting crime. Filmed in black and white, in and around Ottawa by Crawley Films, the series was co-produced with the BBC and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and ran for 39 episodes. It was noted for its pairing of Québécois and Anglo officers.
Canadians also poke fun at the RCMP with Sergeant Renfrew and his faithful dog Cuddles in various sketches produced by the Royal Canadian Air Farce comedy troupe. On That '70s Show Mounties were played by SCTV alumni Joe Flaherty and Dave Thomas. The British have also exploited the myth: the BBC television series Monty Python's Flying Circus featured a group of Mounties singing the chorus in The Lumberjack Song in the lumberjack sketch.
The 1972â90 CBC series The Beachcombers features a character named Constable John Constable who attempts to enforce the law in the town of Gibsons, British Columbia.
In comic books, the Marvel Comics characters of Alpha Flight are described on several occasions as "RCMP auxiliaries," and two of their members, Snowbird and the second Major Mapleleaf are depicted as serving members of the force. In the latter case, due to trademark issues, Major Mapleleaf is described as a "Royal Canadian Mountie" in the opening roll call pages of each issue of Alpha Flight he appears in.
Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin starred in the 1981 movie Death Hunt that fictionalized the RCMP pursuit of Albert Johnson.
In the early 1990s, Canadian professional wrestler Jacques Rougeau utilized the gimmick of "The Mountie" while wrestling for the WWF. He typically wore the Red Serge to the ring, and carried a shock stick as an illegal weapon. As his character was portrayed as an evil Mountie, the RCMP ultimately won an injunction preventing Rougeau from wrestling as this character in Canada, though he was not prevented from doing so outside the country. He briefly held the Intercontinental Championship in 1992.
The 1998 swan song of Nick Berry's time on UK drama Heartbeat features his character, Sergeant Nick Rowan, transferring to Canada and taking the rank of constable in the Mounties. The special telemovie was titled Heartbeat: Changing Places.
The 1994â98 TV series Due South pairs Mountie Constable Benton Fraser with streetwise American detective Ray Vecchio cleaning up the streets of Chicago. It mainly derives its entertainment from the perceived differences in attitude and culture between these two countries' police forces. Fraser is depicted as honest and polite to a fault, even refusing to carry a loaded sidearm when "assisting" Detective Vecchio, but almost superhuman in his abilities for thwarting crime.
A pair of Mounties staff the RCMP detachment in the fictional town of Lynx River, Northwest Territories, in the CBC series North of 60. The series, which aired from 1992 to 1998, is about events in the mostly indigenous community, but the Mounties feature prominently in each episode.
Another TV series from the 1990s, Bordertown features an NWMP corporal paired with a U.S. marshal securing law and order on a frontier U.S.âCanada border town. In the ABC TV mini-series Answered by Fire, at least three mounties are featured. Mounties also appear in the TV series When Calls the Heart (Hallmark Channel).
The 1987 Brian De Palma film The Untouchables features cooperation between the Treasury Department task force, led by Eliot Ness, and the Mounties against liquor smuggling across the CanadaâUnited States border.
The 1995 album C'est Cheese by Canadian musical comedy group The Arrogant Worms includes "The Mountie Song", which tells the story of a dissatisfied Mountie.
In his 1999, album Soiree Newfoundland musician A. Frank Willis included "Savage Cop in Savage Cove" which was based on a true story and went on to become a big hit.[131]
Conan O'Brien brought his late night show to Toronto in February 2004. O'Brien spent a day as a Royal Canadian Mountie at the CanadaâUnited States border.
From 2011, the CTV fantasy drama series The Listener regularly features characters who work for the Integrated Investigative Bureau, a fictional division of the RCMP that brings together various specialists, officers and civilian consultants to work on high-profile or federal cases. Although characters in the employ of the IIB are rarely, if ever, depicted wearing uniform, they are often addressed by their ranks â two main characters are Sergeant Michelle McClusky and Corporal Dev Clark.
Mountie merchandise and trademark
There are products and merchandise that are made in the image of the RCMP, like Mounties statues or hats. Before 1995, the RCMP had little control over these products.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police received an international licence on April 1, 1995, requiring those who use the RCMP to pay a licensing fee. Proceeds from the fees are used for community awareness programmes.[132] Those that do not pay the licensing fee are legally unable to use the name of the RCMP or their correct uniforms, though a film such as Canadian Bacon used the name "Royal Mounted Canadian Police" and the character in the Dudley Do-Right film did not wear accurate insignia.
Through a Master Licensing Agreement (MLA) with the RCMP, the RCMP Foundation is responsible for managing the commercial use of the RCMP name, image, and protected marks.[133] The foundation issues selected companies a royalty-based agreement allowing them to produce and market high-quality official RCMP merchandise. Walt Disney Co. (Canada) Ltd. was contracted to aid in the initial set up of the licensing program[134] but Disney never owned or controlled any of the RCMP's protected marks.
Following the expiration of the Disney contract in 2000, all responsibilities and activities were taken over by the executive director and his staff, reporting to the foundation president and board of directors. In 2007, through a decree signed by Commissioner Beverley Busson, the operating name was changed to the "Royal Canadian Mounted Police Foundation".
The RCMP Heritage Centre is a multi-million dollar museum designed by Arthur Erickson that opened May 2007 in Regina, Saskatchewan, at the RCMP Academy, Depot Division. It replaced the old RCMP museum and is designed to celebrate the role of the force in Canada's history.
RCMP Bands
Although the official band of the RCMP has disbanded, several small RCMP pipe bands such as this one still remain.
A Mounties Band in Yukon, 1901.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Band (French: La Musique de la Gendarmerie royale du Canada) was the RCMP's central musical ensemble. It was considered one of the best professional bands assembled in Canada.[135][136] Although it was an official regimental band, the members worked in the band as a secondary job. It is generally considered to have begun in 1938, though there were various police bands in the RCMP that flourished at the time, leading the Canadian government granting approval for the creation of a full-time central band in December 1958, with its headquarters in the capital of Ottawa.[137][136] Appearances made by the band included Expo 86 and the Commonwealth Conference in Vancouver, the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988, as well as the visits of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Queen Elizabeth II in 1990.[136][135] It was dissolved in 1994 due to government budget cuts.
In its 55 year existence, it operated as a voluntary regimental band, with its members working with it as a secondary job apart from their other duties in the RCMP. Members of the band wore the RCMP's notable Red Serge as part of their full dress uniform and adopted drill seen in Canadian military bands and bands in the British Army. Its longest serving director was Superintendent Edwin Joseph Lydall who served from 1948 to 1968.[138]
Today, instead of brass and reed bands, the RCMP sports eight regional pipe bands across the major cities of the 10 provinces. The first of these bands were established in 1992 in Alberta.[139] The following are the locations of the regional volunteer pipe bands:
Halifax
Moncton
Montreal (part of "C" Division)
Ottawa
Winnipeg
Regina (part of "F" Division)[140]
Edmonton
Vancouver (part of "E" Division)[141]
These bands act as "garrison bands" for the provincial division, and attend parades, police ceremonies, and public events.[142]
RCMP Tartan
The RCMP Tartan
The RCMP has since 1998 had its own distinctive tartan. The creation of the tartan was the result of a committee created in the early 1990s to create a tartan by its 125th anniversary. Upon approval from commissioner Phillip Murray, the tartan was registered with the Scottish Tartans Society and presented to the agency by Anne, Princess Royal during her royal visit to Canada in 1998. The tartan appeared for the first time by a RCMP pipe band at the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo in July and August 1998.[143]
Controversies and criticism
Further information: List of controversies involving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
American historian Andrew Graybill has argued that the RCMP historically resembled the Texas Rangers in many ways. He argues that each protected the established order by confining and removing Indigenous peoples; tightly controlling the mixed blood peoples (the African Americans in Texas and the MĂ©tis in Canada); assisting the large-scale ranchers against the small-scale ranchers and farmers who fenced the land; and breaking the power of labour unions that tried to organize the workers of industrial corporations.[144]
The RCMP have been involved in training and logistically supporting the Haitian National Police since 1994, a controversial matter in Canada considering allegations of widespread human rights violations on the part of the HNP. Some Canadian activist groups have called for an end to the RCMP training.[145] The RCMP has also provided training overseas in Iraq and other peace-keeping missions.
In October 2016, the RCMP issued an apology for harassment, discrimination, and sexual abuse of female officers and civilian members. Additionally they set aside a $100 million fund to compensate these victims. Over 20,000 current and past female employees that were employed after 1974 are eligible.[146]
In 2019, The Guardian revealed that RCMP commanders had advocated the use of "lethal overwatch"âi.e., officers equipped with firearmsâwhile clearing protesters to grant TC Energy access to the lands of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation in order to construct the Coastal GasLink Pipeline.[147]
Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation was arrested by two RCMP officers on March 10, 2020 in Fort McMurray, Alberta.[148][149] After several minutes of Chief Adam yelling and posturing at officers, the officers tackled him and punched him in the head whilst struggling with him on the ground. Chief Adam was later charged with resisting arrest and assaulting a peace officer, but the charges were subsequently dropped.[150] After watching the video of the arrest, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, "[w]e have all now seen the shocking video of Chief Adam's arrest and we must get to the bottom of this".[151][148][152] Following the revelation of Chief Adam's arrestâas well as several other recent instances in which RCMP officers had assaulted or killed Indigenous people[153]âRCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki stated, after initially demurring on the question, that systemic racism exists in the RCMP: "I do know that systemic racism is part of every institution, the RCMP included," she said.[154] One day earlier, Prime Minister Trudeau had also stated that "
In April 2020, the RCMP was strongly condemned for its response to the 2020 Nova Scotia attacks, the deadliest rampage in Canadian history,[156] as well as their transparency in the criminal investigation. CBC News' television program The Fifth Estate and online newspaper Halifax Examiner analyzed the timeline of events, and both observed a myriad of failures and shortcomings in the RCMP response.[157][158][159] A criminologist criticised the RCMP's response as "a mess" and called for an overhaul in how the agency responds to active shooter situations, after they had failed to properly respond to other such incidents in the past.[160]
In June 2021, Privacy Commissioner of Canada Daniel Therrien found that the RCMP had broken Canadian privacy law through hundreds of illegal searches using Clearview AI.[161]
See also
Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the civilian complaints review body
Courage in Red, a 13-part documentary about the RCMP
Emergency Response Team (RCMP)
List of Canadian organizations with royal patronage
RCMP Technical Security Branch
Notes
Beverley Busson was the first woman to have held the top position in the force, albeit on an interim basis. She served as the interim commissioner from December 15, 2006, to July 6, 2007. The first female commissioner, Brenda Lucki was appointed on March 9, 2018, and was officially sworn into office on April 16, 2018.
References
"RCMP heraldic badge". Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada. Office of the Secretary to the Governor General. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
"Corps ensign of the RCMP". Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada. Office of the Secretary to the Governor General. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
General, The Office of the Secretary to the Governor. "Royal Canadian Mounted Police [Civil Institution]". reg.gg.ca. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
"History of the RCMP". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Retrieved April 14, 2016.[permanent dead link]
"Auxiliary Constable Program". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Archived from the original on May 8, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
"New RCMP National Headquarters Building: The M.J. Nadon Government of Canada Building". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. October 5, 2011. Archived from the original on April 8, 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
"Organizational structure". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca. April 1, 2019. Archived from the original on February 28, 2009. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
"Find a detachment". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. May 6, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
"Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: Quick Search Result for Royal Canadian Mounted Police". Transport Canada. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
"About the RCMP". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. April 26, 2016. Archived from the original on July 27, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, RSC 1985, c R-10, s 11.1.
"Colonial Lives of the Carceral Archipelago: Rethinking the Neoliberal Security State". Oxford Academic. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
Axster, Sabrina; Danewid, Ida; Goldstein, Asher; Mahmoudi, Matt; Burak Tansel, Cemal; Wilcox, Lauren (2021). "Colonial Lives of the Carceral Archipelago: Rethinking the Neoliberal Security State,". International Political Sociology: 10, 11. doi:10.1093/ips/olab013.
"The RCMP was created to control Indigenous people. Can that relationship be reset?". Global News. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
Jim Herlihy (1997). The Royal Irish Constabulary. Four Courts Press. pp. 87â91. ISBN 1-85182-343-3.
p.52 Sendzikas, Aldona Stanley Barracks: Toronto's Military Legacy Dundurn Press Ltd., 01/01/2011
Hewitt, Steve. "Policing the Promised Land: The RCMP and Negative Nation-building in Alberta and Saskatchewan in the Interwar Period", The Prairie West as Promised Land ed. R. Douglas Francis and Chris Kitzan (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2007), 318-320.
Hewitt, 322
McIntosh, Dave. The Collectors: A History of Canadian Customs and Excise (Published by NC Press in association with Revenue Canada, Customs and Excise, 1984)
Kelly, Nora and William. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police - A Century of History 1873-1973. (Edmonton, Hurtig Publishers. 1973) pp 199-200.
Reg Whitaker, "Left-Wing Dissent and the State: Canada in the Cold War Era." In C. E. S. Franks, Dissent and the State, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1988, 195. ISBN 0-19-540742-3
Canada: Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Archived February 24, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, Interpol
The Royal Collection. "e-Gallery > Exhibitions > Queen & Commonwealth > Gifts > Badge of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police". Queen's Printer. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved July 26, 2009.
"Inquiry Into Certain Activities of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Royal Commission of," Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 26, 2007.
Shore, Jacques; Crane, Brian; Wilson, John D. (2017). "Interjurisdictional Information Sharing and National Security: A Constitutional and Legislative Analysis". McGill Law Journal. 62:1: 207â239 â via CanLII.
PA1 John Masson, "Territorial Teamwork," Coast Guard Magazine 2/2006, pp. 26â27
Cheung, Carmen K. (2014). "Oversight and Accountability of Canada's National Security Agencies: A Framework for Discussion". The Canadian Bar Review. 92:1: 19â30. 2014 CanLIIDocs 252 â via CanLII.
"Canoe.ca News December 25, 2007". Archived from the original on December 26, 2007.
"RCMP National Division, a renamed A Division, to take on corruption". Maclean's. June 3, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
"Gazette magazine - The Canadian Air Carrier Protective Program - Royal Canadian Mounted Police". June 26, 2012. Archived from the original on June 26, 2012.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 17, 2014). "Famous cases, events and people | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
CBC Archived May 20, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
Gil Aegerter. "Three Canadian Officers Killed in Spray of Gunfire". NBC News.
Ross, David (March 24, 1988). The Royal Canadian Mounted Police 1873-1987. pp. 21â22. ISBN 0-85045-834-X.
North-West Mounted Police Uniform - Royal Canadian Mounted Police Archived October 2, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Rcmp-grc.gc.ca (2011-08-12). Retrieved on 2014-04-12.
Ross, David (March 24, 1988). The Royal Canadian Mounted Police 1873â1987. p. 36. ISBN -0-85045-834-X.
Ross, David (March 24, 1988). The Royal Canadian Mounted Police 1873-1987. p. 26. ISBN 0-85045-834-X.
"1990: Sikh Mounties permitted to wear turbans". CBC Archives. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
"Badges and Insignia". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Archived from the original on October 13, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
"Canada's 'Sherlock Holmes of Forensic Science'". The Kingston Whig-Standard. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
The encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. University of Regina. Canadian Plains Research Centre. Regina: University of Regina, Canadian Plains Research Centre. 2005. p. 584. ISBN 0889771758. OCLC 57639332.
"Dr. Frances McGill was Saskatchewan's answer to Sherlock Holmes". Regina Leader-Post. June 19, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
Moore, Dene. (2012-08-16) Female Mounties earn right to wear pants and boots with all formal uniforms Archived November 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. Vancouversun.com. Retrieved on 2014-04-12.
"William Elliott sworn in as RCMP commissioner". CBC News. July 16, 2007. Retrieved June 13, 2018. ...the organization's first chief not to have served on a police force.
Andrew Mayada (December 15, 2007). "RCMP commissioner promises sweeping changes". CanWest News Service. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007. Retrieved July 30, 2008. Elliott was appointed the first civilian commissioner in the RCMP's history
"Prime Minister announces new Commissioner Designate of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police". Prime Minister of Canada. March 9, 2018.
"Royal Canadian Mounted Police". Quebec400.gc.ca. February 8, 2008. Archived from the original on July 16, 2008. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
Vancouver, The (December 7, 2006). "New commissioner for RCMP must restore faith in the famed force". Canada.com. Archived from the original on August 23, 2012. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (April 19, 2018). "Tipstaff | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
"PM announces charitable donations on behalf of The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall". Archived from the original on April 4, 2013.
"All The Queen's Horses: fourth RCMP steed crosses Atlantic to join Royal Mews". Archived from the original on September 27, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal Becomes Honorary RCMP Deputy Commissioner, Gateway Gazette, retrieved May 26, 2021
"Royal Canadian Mounted Police". Archived from the original on October 13, 2007.
"heraldist1". August 1, 2001. Archived from the original on August 1, 2001.
Furness, Hannah (May 23, 2012). "Queen guarded by Canadian Mounties today" â via www.telegraph.co.uk.
"North-West Mounted Police and Battleford memorial: Memorial 47001-047 Battleford, SK". National Inventory of Canadian Military Memorials. Veterans Affairs Canada. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
"Fact Sheet: International Operations Branch" (PDF). Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 2, 2010. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
"DEA Afghanistan Unit Receives Prestigious Joint Chiefs of Staff Award". KETK NBC. February 8, 2012. Archived from the original on May 15, 2013. Retrieved January 19, 2017. The ATFC began operations in mid-2009 and is a multi-agency organization led by DEA with the Treasury Department and Department of Defense as co-deputies. Additional personnel staff ATFC from the Department of Defense's CENTCOM, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Internal Revenue Service. In the past, the FBI and RCMP also were members. The ATFC's purpose is to attack insurgence funding and financing networks by providing threat finance expertise and actionable intelligence to U.S. civilian and military leaders. The RCMP have also participated in United Nations Peacekeeping operations, sending members to participate actively in various U.N. missions from the late 1980s including observer missions in Namibia, policing missions in Haiti and Kosovo, and CIVPOL operations in Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, and Sudan.
"Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, RSC 1985, c R-10, ss 3â4".
"Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, RSC 1985, c R-10, s 20".
R v White, [1956] SCR 154, 1955 CanLII 48 at 158.
"Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, RSC 1985, c R-10, s 5".
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (September 22, 2016). "RCMP executive | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
"RCMP Executive". Archived from the original on September 24, 2015.
"RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre". January 2004. Archived from the original on June 25, 2008.
National Division â RCMP Archived July 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Rcmp-grc.gc.ca (2013-10-17). Retrieved on 2013-10-30.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 4, 2020). "RCMP in Newfoundland and Labrador | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 4, 2020). "RCMP in Quebec | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 4, 2020). "RCMP in Saskatchewan | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 4, 2020). "Northwest Territories | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 4, 2020). "RCMP in Nova Scotia | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 4, 2020). "RCMP in New Brunswick | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (March 1, 2011). "RCMP in Alberta". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 4, 2020). "RCMP in Prince Edward Island | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
"RCMP - Yukon (M Division)". Archived from the original on February 5, 2009.
"RCMP in Ontario". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca. February 16, 2018.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (December 4, 2020). "RCMP in Nunavut | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Your Surrey RCMP, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (last modified March 31, 2016).
Canada's second largest RCMP detachment integrates dispatch with E-Comm Regional communications centre Archived March 9, 2018, at the Wayback Machine (press release), E-Comm (October 2, 2013).
Renato Gandia, RCMP pays tribute to wives who supported officers posted to smallest detachments Archived August 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Calgary Sun (April 12, 2013).
B.C.'s single-officer RCMP detachments to be closed, CBC News (September 28, 2012).
Switched on - Blue Line. Blueline.ca. Retrieved on 2013-10-30.
Tightened tactics breed dissent in Harper's security detail. The Globe and Mail (2012-06-23). Retrieved on 2013-10-30.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (November 7, 2013). "RCMP in British Columbia - Reserve Constables". bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
"Auxiliary Constable Program". Archived from the original on May 8, 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
"Index of Policing Initiatives". www.publicsafety.gc.ca. December 21, 2018.
"Surrey RCMP's Community Safety Officer program chopped". Archived from the original on September 7, 2014.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (June 6, 2016). "Careers | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
"Community-level knowledge sought in new RCMP program".
"Community constables link citizens and police". Thompson Citizen.
"RCMP Reserve Program". Rcmpvetsnb.ca. January 1, 1995. Archived from the original on June 5, 2009. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
"RCMP Reserve Constables in B.C." Archived from the original on September 4, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
"Retired Mounties back in saddle".[permanent dead link]
"Telecommunications Operators". rcmp-grc.gc.ca. July 30, 2010. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
"Ranks of the Force". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. May 21, 2015. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
"Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMPš) / Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) / Gendarmerie royale du Canada (GRC)". uniforminsignia.org.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (April 1, 2019). "Organizational Structure". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca. Archived from the original on February 28, 2009. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (September 14, 2012). "Regular Member - Annual Rates of Pay | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (September 22, 2016). "RCMP executive | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (June 21, 2016). "Commanding Officer | Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
p.38 Ross, David & May Robin The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (1873-1987) 1988 Osprey Publishing.
pp.38-39 Ross, David & May, Robin The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (1873-1987) 1988 Osprey Publishing.
pp.38-39 Ross, David & May, Robin The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (1873-1987) 1988 Osprey Publishing
"RCMP and the Monarchy". RCMP Veterans' Association - Vancouver Division. September 6, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
"Diamond Jubilee: Nobody's talking but RCMP has given Queen a horse for Diamond Jubilee". thestar.com. June 1, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
Heritage, Canadian (January 18, 2018). "Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II". aem. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
"Prince Edward concludes royal Alberta visit with canine gift to RCMP". CBC News. June 8, 2009.
"Princess Anne praises slain Canadian soldiers as royal visit to Ottawa begins (with video)". ottawacitizen. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
"Land Transport". Rcmp-grc.gc.ca. November 14, 2006. Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
"Marine Services". Rcmp-grc.gc.ca. Archived from the original on June 22, 2010. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
"Airbus delivers Canada's first H145 to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police". Airbus (Press release). December 19, 2018. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
"RCMP Adopts C8 Carbine - Soldier Systems Daily".
"Under Fire: The carbine". Global News.
"EXCLUSIVE: All RCMP cadets now receiving carbine and active shooter training | Globalnews.ca". globalnews.ca. June 15, 2015.
"Hundreds of faulty RCMP Tasers destroyed or pulled". CTVNews. April 18, 2010.
Leersum, Richard Van (January 1, 2014). "THE GUNS THAT WON THE WEST: THE FIREARMS OF THE N.W.M.P."
Petzal, David E. and Bourjaily, Phil, with Fenson, Brad. The Total Gun Manual (Canadian edition) (San Francisco: WeldonOwen, 2014) Note 44.
Petzal and Bourjaily with Fenson. The Total Gun Manual (Canadian edition), Note 44
Petzal and Bourjaily with Fenson, The Total Gun Manual (Canadian edition), Note 45
"The .455 Colt New Service and the RCMP". Guns and Ammo. December 6, 2016.
Petzal and Bourjaily, Phil, with Fenson. The Total Gun Manual (Canadian edition), Note 44
Phillips, Roger F., & Klancher, Donald J. Arms & [sic] Accoutrements of the Mounted Police 1873-1973 (Bloomfield, ON: Museum Restoration Service, 1982), p.24.
Petzal and Bourjaily with Fenson. The Total Gun Manual (Canadian edition), Note 45
"Royal Canadian Mounted Police - Badges and Insignia". Rcmp-grc.gc.ca. February 16, 2005. Archived from the original on July 6, 2010. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
Force's legacy endures, Toronto Star, March 5, 2005
"The Royal Canadian Mounted Police presents the 30th anniversary of the Canadian Sunset Ceremonies, June 27â30". CNW Group Ltd. June 26, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
"RCMP Musical Ride Sunset Ceremonies". Ottawa Tourism and Convention Authority. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
"RCMP's Canadian Sunset Ceremonies". todoCanada.ca. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
"RCMP Heritage Centre - Sunset Retreat Ceremonies". rcmphc.com.
Barr, William Red Serge and Polar Bear Pants" The Biography of Harry Stallworthy, RCMP University of Alberta Press 2004
"Newfoundland music books food videos images arts crafts". Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
Farnsworth, Clyde H. (February 4, 1995). "For the Mounties, Justice Is Now a Licensing FeeâNew York Times". New York Times. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, "[1]", Retrieved July 28, 2011
CBC Digital Archives "[2]", Retrieved July 28, 2011
"History". RCMP Band. April 26, 2014.
"The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Band". Altissimo!.
Luscombe, Stephen. "Royal Canadian Mounted Police". www.britishempire.co.uk.
"ONTARIO - Ottawa - Miscellaneous Obituaries - 130". canadianobits.com.
"RCMP Community Bands of Pipes and Drums". RCMP. Archived from the original on August 27, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
"Band Information: A Community Partnership". RCMP Regina Pipes and Drums. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
"History â "E" Division". RCMP "E" Division Pipe Band (British Columbia). Retrieved December 7, 2019.
"Pipes, Drums and Dancers: Nova Scotia". Retrieved December 7, 2019.
"Tartan". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
Andrew R. Graybill, Policing the Great Plains: Rangers, Mounties, and the North American Frontier, 1875-1910 (University of Nebraska Press, 2007) excerpt and text search
RCMP Website and "Haiti Support Hits the Streets"
Harris, Kathleen. "RCMP could pay up to $100M to female employees who were sexually harassed, abused". CBC News. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
Parrish, Jaskiran Dhillon Will (December 20, 2019). "Exclusive: Canada police prepared to shoot Indigenous activists, documents show". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
Tunney, Catharine (June 12, 2020). "Trudeau has 'serious questions' after watching video of Chief Adam's arrest". CBC News. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
Porter, Catherine; Bilefsky, Dan (June 13, 2020). "Video of Arrest of Indigenous Leader Shocks Canada". The New York Times. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
The Canadian Press (June 24, 2020). "Charges dropped against First Nations Chief Allan Adam in violent arrest". CBC News. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
Cecco, Leyland (June 12, 2020). "First Nations chief shown being punched by Canadian police in video". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
"Full dashcam video of Chief Allan Adam's arrest". CBC News. June 11, 2020.
"Chantel Moore's family calls for justice, public inquiry during healing walk". CBC News. June 13, 2020. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
Tasker, John Paul (June 12, 2020). "Systemic racism exists in the RCMP, Commissioner Brenda Lucki says". CBC News. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
Tunney, Catharine (June 11, 2020). "Systemic racism exists in RCMP, Trudeau argues â after commissioner says she's 'struggling' with the term". CBC News. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
Gillies, Rob (April 19, 2020). "16 killed in shooting rampage, deadliest in Canadian history". AP News. Archived from the original on April 19, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
McMillan, Elizabeth; Mayor, Lisa (November 22, 2020). "13 deadly hours". CBC News. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
"Growing criticism over how Nova Scotia RCMP warned public about killer". Global News. April 21, 2020. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
Palango, Paul (July 18, 2020). "'An epic failure': The first duty of police is to preserve life; through the Nova Scotia massacre, the RCMP saved no one". Halifax Examiner. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
Leffler, Brennan; Lord, Ross (December 12, 2020). "Emotional aftermath: families of victims in Nova Scotia shooting struggle to heal". Global News. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
Boutilier, Alex (June 8, 2021). "RCMP broke privacy laws in using controversial Clearview AI facial recognition tools, watchdog says". Toronto Star. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
External links
Official website Edit this at Wikidata
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Reports 1929-1948 at Dartmouth College Library
vte
Law enforcement agencies in Canada
vte
Departments of the Government of Canada
vte
Canadian Newsmaker of the Year
vte
Police forces by country
Find out more on
Wikipedia's
Sister projects
Media
from CommonsNews stories
from WikinewsSource texts
from WikisourceData
from Wikidata
Canada portalLaw portal
Authority control Edit this at Wikidata
Coordinates: 45.42°N 75.66°W
Categories: Royal Canadian Mounted PoliceFederal departments and agencies of CanadaPublic Safety CanadaCanadian intelligence agenciesGovernment agencies established in 1920Legal history of Canada1920 establishments in CanadaGendarmerieOrganizations based in Canada with royal patronageOrganizations based in OttawaUniformed services of CanadaFederal law enforcement agencies of CanadaNunavut lawNorthwest Territories lawYukon lawNational symbols of CanadaNational police forcesMounted police
Navigation menu
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
ArticleTalk
ReadEditView history
Search
Search Wikipedia
Main page
Contents
Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate
Contribute
Help
Learn to edit
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Cite this page
Wikidata item
Print/export
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Languages
ۧÙŰč۱ۚÙŰ©
Español
Français
Bahasa Indonesia
Đ ŃŃŃĐșĐžĐč
Suomi
Svenska
ŚŚÖŽŚŚŚ©
äžæ
24 more
Edit links
This page was last edited on 14 July 2021, at 02:34 (UTC).
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. WikipediaÂź is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policyAbout WikipediaDisclaimersContact WikipediaMobile viewDevelopersStatisticsCookie statementWikimedia FoundationPowered by MediaWiki