Dominion Police

The Dominion Police was a Canadian police force from 1868 to 1920.

History

The Dominion Police was created on 22 May 1868, as a result of the amalgamation of the Western Frontier Constabulary and the Montreal Water Police.^{[citation needed]}

It began as a police force protecting the Parliament Buildings on Parliament Hill in Ottawa (now protected by House of Commons and Senate Security Service Constables and Scanner operators) and by 1911 it served as Canada's eastern police force (for provinces east of Manitoba, excluding Newfoundland which did not join Canada until 1949).

In May 1918, the 969-member Dominion Police was assigned under the Department of Militia and Defence and became a civilian wing of the Canadian Military Police Corps.

The civilian members of the CMPC were merged with the Royal Northwest Mounted Police (Canada's western police force) on 1 February 1920, to form the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The CMPC was disbanded on 1 December 1920.

Roles of the DP included:

• bodyguards for politicians in Ottawa
• secret service
• security intelligence
• protecting naval dockyards in Halifax
• national fingerprint bureau
• parole service

Heads of the Dominion Police

• Charles-Joseph Coursol 1868-1871
• Gilbert McMicken 1869-1873, Commissioner
• Sir Arthur Sherwood 1885-1918, Commissioner
• Colonel Gilbert Godson-Godson, first Provost Marshall of the CMPC

Heads of Montreal Water Police

• William Frederick Ermatinger (1811-1869) 1850s-1866
• Charles-Joseph Coursol 1866-1868

External links

• Royal Canadian Mounted Police at the Wayback Machine (archived June 22, 2011), Federation of American Scientists
• Dominion Police, 1868–1919, Library and Archives Canada