Royal Canadian Mounted Police#Divisions

{{Further|North-West Mounted Police#history}}

File:MountiesAfterJohnson.jpg, 1931.]]

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police was formed in 1920 by the amalgamation of two separate federal police services: the Royal North-West Mounted Police (RNWMP), which had been responsible for colonial policing in the Canadian West,{{cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/north-west-mounted-police|title=North-West Mounted Police|access-date=2022-08-12|website=The Canadian Encyclopedia}} but by 1920 was becoming "rapidly obsolete;"{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/investigations/rcmp-contract-policing-investigation/article38085153/|title=The RCMP's thin red line: Is contract policing unsustainable?|access-date=2022-08-12|website=The Globe and Mail|date=March 2, 2018 |last1=Freeze |first1=Colin |last2=Dhillon |first2=Sunny }} and the Dominion Police, which was responsible for federal law enforcement, intelligence, and parliamentary security.{{cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/dominion-police|title=Dominion Police|access-date=2022-08-12|website=The Canadian Encyclopedia}} The new police service inherited the paramilitary, frontline policing-oriented culture that had governed the RNWMP, which had been modelled after the Royal Irish Constabulary,{{cite book|author=Jim Herlihy|url= https://archive.org/details/royalirishconsta00herl/page/87|title=The Royal Irish Constabulary |publisher= Four Courts Press|year= 1997|isbn= 1-85182-343-3|pages= [https://archive.org/details/royalirishconsta00herl/page/87 87–91]|url-access=registration}} but much of the RCMP's local policing role had been superseded by provincial and municipal police services.

In 1928, the federal government authorized the RCMP to enter into heavily subsidized contracts with provinces and municipalities, enabling the service to return to its roots in local policing. The federal government paid 60 per cent of the policing costs, while provinces and municipalities paid the remaining 40 per cent. By 1950, eight of the ten Canadian provinces had disbanded their provincial police services in favour of subsidized RCMP policing.{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/why-did-the-bc-provincial-police-disappear/article1379808/|title=Why did the B.C. Provincial Police disappear?|access-date=2022-08-12|website=The Globe and Mail|date=September 10, 2010 |last1=Matas |first1=Robert }}

As part of its national security and intelligence functions, the RCMP infiltrated ethnic or political groups considered to be dangerous to Canada. These included the Communist Party of Canada (founded in 1921) and a variety of Indigenous, minority cultural, and nationalist groups.{{cite journal|last1= Axster|first1= Sabrina|last2= Danewid|first2= Ida|last3= Goldstein |first3= Asher|last4=Mahmoudi|first4=Matt|last5=Burak Tansel|first5= Cemal|last6= Wilcox|first6= Lauren|date= 2021|title= Colonial Lives of the Carceral Archipelago: Rethinking the Neoliberal Security State |journal=International Political Sociology|volume=15|issue=3|pages=10, 11|doi=10.1093/ips/olab013|doi-access=free}}{{request quotation|date=July 2022}} The service was also deeply involved in immigration matters, and was responsible for deporting suspected radicals. The RCMP paid particular attention to nationalist and socialist Ukrainian groupsHewitt, 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. and the Chinese community, which was targeted because of disproportionate links to opium dens. Historians estimate that Canada deported two per cent of its Chinese community between 1923 and 1932, largely under the provisions of the Opium and Narcotics Drugs Act.Hewitt, 322 The first Mountie to go undercover was Frank Zaneth who under the code name Operative Number 1 infiltrated various "radical" groups along with the Mafia.{{sfn|Knuckle|2007|p=39}}

In 1932, RCMP members killed Albert Johnson, the Mad Trapper of Rat River, after a shoot-out.{{cite web|url=http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/famous-cases-events-and-people|title=Famous cases, events and people | Royal Canadian Mounted Police|first=Royal Canadian Mounted Police|last=Government of Canada|date=December 17, 2014|website=www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca}} Johnson had been the subject of a dispute with local Indigenous trappers—he had reportedly destroyed their traps, harassed them verbally, and on one occasion, pointed a firearm at them—and, when confronted with a search warrant, opened fire on RCMP officers, wounding one.{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Barbara|title=The Mad Trapper – Unearthing a Mystery|publisher=Heritage House Publishing Company|year=2009|isbn=978-1-894974-53-0}} Also in 1932, the Customs Preventive Service (CPS), a branch of the Department of National Revenue, was folded into the RCMP at the request of RCMP leadership.McIntosh, Dave. The Collectors: A History of Canadian Customs and Excise (Published by NC Press in association with Revenue Canada, Customs and Excise, 1984){{cite web|url=https://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol05/tnm_5_4_37-57.pdf|title=The Origins and Growth of the Canadian Customs Preventive Service Fleet in the Maritime Provinces and Eastern Quebec, 1892–1932|author=David J. McDougall|access-date=2022-08-12|website=Canadian Nautical Research Society}}

In 1935, the RCMP, acting as the provincial police service for Saskatchewan (but against the wishes of the Saskatchewan government) and in collaboration with the Regina Police Service, attempted to arrest organizers of the On-to-Ottawa Trek in the Germantown neighbourhood's market square by kettling around 300 rally-goers, sparking the Regina Riot. One city police officer and one protester were killed. The trek, which had been organized to call attention to conditions in relief camps, consequently failed to reach Ottawa, but nevertheless had political reverberations.{{cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/on-to-ottawa-trek|title=On to Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot|access-date=2022-08-12|website=The Canadian Encyclopedia}} That same year, three RCMP members, acting under contract as provincial police officers, were killed in Saskatchewan and Alberta during an arrest and subsequent pursuit.{{Cite web|url = http://winnipeg.ca/police/history/story23.stm|title = Winnipeg Police Service History – Murder on the Prairies|date = |access-date = 6 July 2015|website = Winnipeg Police Service|publisher = Winnipeg Police Service History and Museum|last = Taylor|first = Scott|archive-date = 7 July 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150707173543/http://winnipeg.ca/police/history/story23.stm}}

During the interwar period, the RCMP employed special constables to assist with strikebreaking. For a brief period in the late 1930s, a volunteer militia group, the Legion of Frontiersmen, was affiliated with the RCMP.[http://www.library.utoronto.ca/fisher/collections/findaids/pocock.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303185236/http://www.library.utoronto.ca/fisher/collections/findaids/pocock.pdf|date=March 3, 2016}} Dave Mason, University of Toronto Rare Books. Retrieved 4 March 2007; B. W. Shandro, "The Legion of Frontiersmen of the Commonwealth Canada," [http://www.frontiersmenhistorian.info/canada.htm] Retrieved 4 March 2007. Many members of the RCMP belonged to this organization, which was prepared to serve as an auxiliary police service.

In 1940, 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, taking two years, 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).Kelly, Nora and William. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police – A Century of History 1873–1973. (Edmonton, Hurtig Publishers. 1973) pp 199–200.

In 1941, two African-Canadian men from Nova Scotia applied to join the RCMP. The commissioner at the time, Stuart Wood, allegedly allowed them to sit for entrance tests in the hopes that they could be definitively refused entry to the service as "their colour would raise the question of policy."{{cite web|url=https://globalnews.ca/news/4985100/black-mounties/|title='Be white by 6 AM': 50 years on, the 'first' black Mountie reflects on his decade in scarlet|author=Jane Gerster|website=Global News}} Both men ultimately passed the requisite tests, but neither was given an offer of employment.

In the wake of the 1945 defection of Soviet cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko, who revealed that the Soviet Union was spying on Western nations, the RCMP separated its units responsible for domestic intelligence and counter-espionage from the Criminal Investigation Branch to the new Special Branch, formed in 1950.{{cite web| title =RCMP: A Brief History| publisher =CBC| date =22 June 2005| url =https://www.cbc.ca/news2/background/rcmp/| access-date = 2007-01-13 }} The branch changed names twice: in 1962, to the Directorate of Security and Intelligence; and in 1970 to the Security Service. On April 1, 1949, Newfoundland and Labrador joined in Confederation with Canada, and the Newfoundland Ranger Force amalgamated with the RCMP.

In June 1953, the RCMP became a full member of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).[https://www.interpol.int/Member-countries/Americas/Canada Canada: Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224053039/https://www.interpol.int/Member-countries/Americas/Canada |date=February 24, 2018 }}, Interpol In 1969, the RCMP hired its first black police officer, Hartley Gosline.

File:Grc2.jpg in training in 2010. The tactical unit was formed in 1977.]]

On July 4, 1973, during a visit to Regina, Saskatchewan, Queen Elizabeth II approved a new badge for the RCMP. The force subsequently presented the sovereign with a tapestry rendering of the new design.{{cite web| url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/91646/tapestry| title=Tapestry 1973|ref=CITEREF_The_Royal_Collection_2009}}

In 1978, the RCMP formed 31 part-time emergency response teams across the country to respond to serious incidents requiring a tactical police response.{{cite report |author1=Solicitor General Canada |title=Annual Report, 1978–1979: Secretariat, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, National Parole Board, Correctional Service of Canada. |date=1980 |isbn=0662508173 |page=65 |url=https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/lbrr/archives/sg-arsg-1978-1979-eng.pdf |access-date=30 July 2019}}{{cite book |author1=Special Committee of the Senate on Terrorism and the Public Safety |date=2004 |publisher=Diane Publishing Company|isbn=978-0788125720|orig-date=1st pub. Minister of Supply and Services Canada:1987|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eShHo1dPhwEC&pg=PP1|title=Terrorism: the report of the Senate Special Committee on Terrorism and the Public Safety|page=48}}

In 1986, in the wake of the 1985 Turkish embassy attack in Ottawa and the bombing of Air India Flight 182, the Canadian government directed the RCMP to form the Special Emergency Response Team (SERT), a full-time counter-terrorism unit.{{cite web |last1=Browne |first1=Mona |title=Secretariat role: Ministry of the Solicitor General |url=https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/lbrr/archives/jl%20103.s6%20s41%201992-eng.pdf |website=Public Safety Canada |publisher=Ministry of the Solicitor General |access-date=28 July 2019 |date=25 June 1992}}{{cite thesis|last1=Alvaro|first1=Sam|title=Tactical law enforcement in Canada; an exploratory survey of Canadian police agencies|publisher=Carleton University|url=http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp01/MQ48419.pdf|isbn=978-0612484191|access-date=29 July 2019|archive-date=April 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401173407/https://www.nlc-bnc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp01/MQ48419.pdf|url-status=dead}}

In the early 1990s, journalists at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's The Fifth Estate opened an investigation into rumours that a senior RCMP officer in the Criminal Intelligence Service (CISC) was on the payroll of a Montreal-based organized crime group, and in 1992, aired an episode identifying Inspector Claude Savoie, then the assistant director of the CISC, as the leak, citing evidence that connected him to Allan Ronald Ross, an Irish-Canadian drug lord, and Sidney Leithman, a prominent lawyer associated with Montreal's organized crime network.{{cite news |last1=Somerset |first1=Jay |title=Local Hero |url=https://www.taddlecreekmag.com/local-hero |access-date=13 November 2022 |publisher=Taddle Creek |date=December 2011}} Shortly after the episode aired, and minutes before being interviewed by detectives with the RCMP's professional standards unit, Savoie committed suicide in his Ottawa office.{{cite book|last1=Auger|first1=Michel|last2=Edwards|first2=Peter|title=The Encyclopedia of Canadian Organized Crime: From Captain Kidd to Mom Boucher|location=Toronto|publisher=McClelland & Stewart|date=2004|isbn=0771030495 |page=209}} One of Savoie's subordinates, Portuguese-Canadian constable Jorge Leite, was found guilty of corruption and breach of trust by a Portuguese court about his work with Savoie.{{cite book|last=Knuckle|first=Robert|title=A Master of Deception: Working Undercover for the RCMP|location=Renfrew|publisher=General Store Publishing House|date=2007|isbn=978-1897113660 |page=163}}{{cite book|last=O'Connor |first=D'Arcy |title=Montreal's Irish Mafia: The True Story of the Infamous West End Gang |location=Toronto |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |date=2011 |page=163}}

In 1993, the SERT was transferred to the Canadian Forces, creating a new unit called Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2). The JTF2 inherited some equipment and the SERT's former training base near Ottawa.

File:ASK files 146.JPG, 2008. The Personal Protection Group was created in 1995.]]

In 1995 the Personal Protection Group (PPG) of the RCMP was created at the behest of Jean Chrétien after the break-in by André Dallaire at the Prime Minister's official Ottawa residence, 24 Sussex Drive.{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tightened-tactics-breed-dissent-in-harpers-security-detail/article4366007/ |title=Tightened tactics breed dissent in Harper's security detail |publisher=The Globe and Mail |date=2012-06-23}} The PPG is a 180-member group responsible for VIP security details, chiefly the prime minister and the governor general.[http://blueline.ca/articles/switched_on/ Switched on – Blue Line]. Blueline.ca. Retrieved on 2013-10-30.

In 1998, the RCMP, with the permission of the owners AEC, bombed an oil well shed as part of a 'dirty tricks' campaign during a dispute between AEC and Wiebo Ludwig.{{Cite web |title=RCMP bombed oil site in 'dirty tricks' campaign |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/rcmp-bombed-oil-site-in-dirty-tricks-campaign-1.188599 |website=CBC Online}}

{{Main|RCMP Security Service}}

{{Further|Canadian Security Intelligence Service|PROFUNC}}

The RCMP Security Service (RCMPSS) was a specialized political intelligence and counterintelligence branch with national security responsibilities following revelations of illegal covert operations relating to the Quebec separatist movement.{{cite news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080425205414/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0004009 |title=Inquiry Into Certain Activities of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Royal Commission of |publisher=Canadian Encyclopedia |archive-date=25 April 2008 |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/royal-commission-on-inquiry-into-certain-activities-of-the-royal-canadian-mounted-police}} As a result, the RCMPSS was replaced by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in 1984, and is statutorily independent of the RCMP.

In the late 1970s, revelations surfaced that the RCMP Security Service had in the course of their intelligence duties engaged in crimes such as burning a barn and stealing documents from the separatist Parti Québécois. 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 service's intelligence duties be removed in favour of the creation of a separate intelligence agency, the CSIS. The RCMP and the CSIS nonetheless continue to share responsibility for some law enforcement activities in the contemporary era, particularly in the anti-terrorism context.{{Cite journal|last1=Shore|first1=Jacques|last2=Crane|first2=Brian|last3=Wilson|first3=John D.|date=2017|title=Interjurisdictional Information Sharing and National Security: A Constitutional and Legislative Analysis|url=https://commentary.canlii.org/w/canlii/2017CanLIIDocs355|journal=McGill Law Journal|volume=62|issue=1 |pages=207–239|doi=10.7202/1038712ar|via=CanLII|doi-access=free}}

File:Whitecourt RCMP We Remember.jpg in Whitecourt, Northern Alberta]]

Due to 9/11, the RCMP Sky Marshals, which is charged with security on passenger aircraft, was inaugurated in 2002.{{cite web|url=http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/gazette/vol70n3/air-eng.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626092154/http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/gazette/vol70n3/air-eng.htm|archive-date=June 26, 2012|title=Gazette magazine – The Canadian Air Carrier Protective Program – Royal Canadian Mounted Police|date=June 26, 2012}}

Four RCMP officers were fatally shot during the Mayerthorpe tragedy in Northern Alberta in March 2005. It was the single largest multiple killing of RCMP officers since the killing of three officers in Kamloops, British Columbia, by a mentally ill assailant in June 1962. Before that, the RCMP had not incurred such a loss since the North-West Rebellion.[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/slain-rcmp-officer-new-to-force-1.533630 CBC] One result was that on 21 October 2011 Commissioner William J. S. Elliott announced that RCMP officers would have the C8 rifle at their disposal, where in the past they had been limited to sidearms. One of the main conclusions from the fatality inquiry that led to this result was the fact that the officers who were involved in the events did not have the appropriate weapons to face someone with a semi-automatic rifle.{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/front-line-rcmp-officers-to-get-high-powered-guns/article4251468/ |title=Front-line RCMP officers to get high-powered guns |publisher=The Globe and Mail |orig-date=21 October 2011|date=8 May 2018}}

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 U.S. Coast Guard boarding officers from stations in Michigan ride in each other's vessels. The intent was to allow for seamless enforcement of the international border.PA1 John Masson, "Territorial Teamwork", Coast Guard Magazine 2/2006, pp. 26–27

File:USCG, RCMP Conduct Shiprider Operations During G20 DVIDS294137.jpg member conduct a boarding as a part of Shiprider law enforcement operations. RCMP-U.S. Coast Guard Shiprider operations began in 2006.]]

On December 6, 2006, RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli resigned after admitting that his earlier testimony about the Maher Arar 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.{{Cite journal|last=Cheung|first=Carmen K.|date=2014|title=Oversight and Accountability of Canada's National Security Agencies: A Framework for Discussion|url=https://commentary.canlii.org/w/canlii/2014CanLIIDocs252|journal=The Canadian Bar Review|volume=92|issue=1 |pages=19–30|id=2014 CanLIIDocs 252|via=CanLII}} Following the commission of inquiry's recommendations, the Harper government tabled amendments to the RCMP Act to create the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission.

In the wake of the 2007 Robert Dziekański taser incident at the Vancouver International Airport, two officers were found guilty of perjury to the Braidwood Inquiry and sentenced to jail for their actions. They appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada but were unsuccessful.

In July 2007, two RCMP officers were shot and succumbed to their injuries in the Spiritwood Incident near Mildred, Saskatchewan.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

By the end of 2007, the RCMP was named Newsmaker of the Year by The Canadian Press.{{cite web|url=http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/MediaNews/2007/12/25/4739958-cp.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20071226200125/http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/MediaNews/2007/12/25/4739958-cp.html|title=Canoe.ca News December 25, 2007|url-status=usurped|archive-date=December 26, 2007}}

The RCMP mounted the Queen's Life Guard in May 2012 during celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/the_queens_diamond_jubilee/9284116/Queen-guarded-by-Canadian-Mounties-today.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/the_queens_diamond_jubilee/9284116/Queen-guarded-by-Canadian-Mounties-today.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Queen guarded by Canadian Mounties today|first=Hannah|last=Furness|date=May 23, 2012|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}{{cbignore}}

On June 3, 2013, the RCMP's A Division was renamed the "National Division" and tasked with handling corruption cases "at home and abroad".{{cite magazine|url=http://www.macleans.ca/2013/06/03/rcmp-national-division-a-renamed-a-division-to-take-on-corruption/|title=RCMP National Division, a renamed A Division, to take on corruption|date=June 3, 2013|magazine=Maclean's|access-date=October 25, 2013|archive-date=March 4, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304194848/http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/06/03/rcmp-national-division-a-renamed-a-division-to-take-on-corruption/|url-status=dead}}

File:Thank You RCMP Moncton Shooting.jpeg was apprehended.]]

In June 2014, three RCMP officers were murdered during the Moncton shooting.{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/three-canadian-officers-killed-spray-gunfire-n123136|title=Three Canadian Officers Killed in Spray of Gunfire|author=Gil Aegerter|work=NBC News|date=June 6, 2014 }} A review from retired assistant commissioner Alphonse MacNeil in May 2015 issued 64 recommendations, while the RCMP was charged with violating the Canada Labour Code (CLC) for the slow roll-out of the C8 carbine, which had been recommended by the 2011 Elliott inquiry. The RCMP issued the first carbines in 2013, and with 12,000 members across the country had, as of May 2015, only purchased 2,200.{{cite news |last1=Auld |first1=Alison |last2=Tutton |first2=Michael |title=Moncton RCMP shooting: Mounties criticize carbine rollout 1 year after rampage |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/moncton-rcmp-shooting-mounties-criticize-carbine-rollout-1-year-after-rampage-1.3094586 |agency=The Canadian Press |publisher=CBC |date=May 31, 2015}} At the CLC trial the Crown argued that the then newly-retired head of the RCMP Bob Paulson had "played the odds" with officer safety and it proved fatal.{{cite news |title=RCMP 'played the odds' with officer safety and it proved fatal, Crown argues |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/rcmp-trial-final-arguments-1.4186021 |publisher=CBC |date=July 4, 2017}} One result of the CLC trial was the conviction of the organization that had been led by Paulson for close to seven years.{{cite news |title=RCMP guilty of Labour Code violations in 2014 Moncton shooting spree |url=https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/rcmp-guilty-of-labour-code-violations-in-2014-moncton-shooting-spree/ |agency=Canadian Press |publisher=Maclean's, an arm of St. Joseph Communications |date=September 29, 2017 |access-date=June 22, 2022 |archive-date=June 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220622074803/https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/rcmp-guilty-of-labour-code-violations-in-2014-moncton-shooting-spree/ |url-status=dead }}

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 who were employed after 1974 are eligible.{{cite news|last1=Harris|first1=Kathleen|title=RCMP could pay up to $100M to female employees who were sexually harassed, abused|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-paulson-compensation-harassment-1.3793785|website=CBC News|access-date=October 6, 2016}}

In January 2019 of that year, the RCMP enforced an injunction against the Wet’suwet’en first nation, raiding the Unist’ot’en Camp and arresting 14 people. This sparked widespread protests and solidarity actions across Canada after reports surfaced of the use of violence by the RCMP.{{Cite web |title=Wetsuweten report, amnesty international |url=https://amnesty.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/wetsuweten-report.pdf}}

In February 2020, The RCMP again enforced the injunction, leading to further arrests and escalating tensions. Rail blockades and other disruptions occurred across the country in support of the Wet’suwet’en. There was widespread condemnation across Canada of the surveillance tactics employed by the RCMP. During one protest, two journalists were arrested by the RCMP during the protests, prompting an investigation by the federal government.{{Cite web |last=Canada |first=Public Safety |date=2022-05-05 |title=Coastal Gaslink Pipeline Protests |url=https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/trnsprnc/brfng-mtrls/prlmntry-bndrs/20211207/14-en.aspx?wbdisable=true |access-date=2025-01-19 |website=www.publicsafety.gc.ca}} The RCMP was further criticized when video footage of officers breaking into the homes of Wet'suwet'en community members and pointing weapons at peaceful protesters surfaced on youtube.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNrfVqQ2Tlk |title=Wet'suwet'en Invasions {{!}} Investigates |date=2022-04-29 |last=APTN News |access-date=2025-01-19 |via=YouTube}} In audio recordings played in the B.C. supreme court, RCMP officers referred to First Nations opposed to gas pipelines as "orcs" and "ogres".{{Cite news |last=McKay |first=Jackie |date=Jan 17, 2024 |title=RCMP officers mocked people being arrested at Wet'suwet'en blockade as 'orcs' and 'ogre' |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/rcmp-audio-wetsuweten-coastal-gaslink-1.7086861 |work=CBC}}

On March 10, 2020, Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation was arrested by two RCMP officers in Fort McMurray, Alberta.{{Cite news |last1=Porter |first1=Catherine |last2=Bilefsky |first2=Dan |date=June 13, 2020 |title=Video of Arrest of Indigenous Leader Shocks Canada |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/world/canada/Allan-Adam-athabasca-police.html |access-date=June 13, 2020}} 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.{{Cite news|last=The Canadian Press|date=June 24, 2020|title=Charges dropped against First Nations Chief Allan Adam in violent arrest|work=CBC News|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/allan-adam-athabasca-chipewyan-first-nation-arrest-rcmp-assault-1.5624976|access-date=June 24, 2020}} 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".{{Cite news|last=Cecco|first=Leyland|date=June 12, 2020|title=First Nations chief shown being punched by Canadian police in video|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/12/canadian-police-punch-first-nations-chief-canada-video-chief-allan-adam|access-date=June 12, 2020|issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite news|last=Tunney|first=Catharine|date=June 12, 2020|title=Trudeau has 'serious questions' after watching video of Chief Adam's arrest|work=CBC News|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-adam-arrest-video-1.5609446|access-date=June 13, 2020}}{{cite news|date=June 11, 2020|title=Full dashcam video of Chief Allan Adam's arrest|url=https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1749767747520|website=CBC News}} Following the revelation of Chief Adam's arrest—as well as several other recent instances in which RCMP officers had assaulted or killed Indigenous people{{Cite news|date=June 13, 2020|title=Chantel Moore's family calls for justice, public inquiry during healing walk|work=CBC News|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/healing-walks-chantel-moore-1.5610194|access-date=June 13, 2020}}—RCMP 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.{{Cite news|last=Tasker|first=John Paul|date=June 12, 2020|title=Systemic racism exists in the RCMP, Commissioner Brenda Lucki says|work=CBC News|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/brenda-lucki-systemic-racism-rcmp-1.5610355|access-date=June 13, 2020}} One day earlier, Trudeau had also stated that "[s]ystemic racism is an issue right across the country, in all our institutions, including in all our police services, including in the RCMP."{{Cite news|last=Tunney|first=Catharine|date=June 11, 2020|title=Systemic racism exists in RCMP, Trudeau argues – after commissioner says she's 'struggling' with the term|work=CBC News|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-systemic-racism-lucki-trudeau-1.5607622|access-date=June 13, 2020}}

RCMP Constable Heidi Stevenson was killed while responding to the Wortman killing spree that left 23 dead in Nova Scotia in April 2020. The political furor that followed engulfed Commissioner Brenda Lucki and her minister, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair.{{cite news |last1=Tunney |first1=Catharine |title=Top Mountie denies claim she interfered in N.S. shooting investigation |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/blair-lucki-nova-scotia-shooting-gun-control-1.6496511 |publisher=CBC |date=June 21, 2022}} The RCMP was strongly criticized for its response to the attacks, the deadliest rampage in Canadian history,{{cite news |last=Gillies |first=Rob |url=https://apnews.com/7c9a33ae52420e0ddbfb5275898a7e79 |title=16 killed in shooting rampage, deadliest in Canadian history |date=April 19, 2020 |access-date=April 19, 2020 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200419202425/https://apnews.com/7c9a33ae52420e0ddbfb5275898a7e79|archive-date=April 19, 2020|website=AP News}} as well as their lack of 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.{{cite news|url=https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/nova-scotia-shooting-13-deadly-hours|title=13 deadly hours|publisher=CBC News|last1=McMillan|first1=Elizabeth|last2=Mayor|first2=Lisa|date=November 22, 2020|access-date=November 23, 2020}}{{cite news|title=Growing criticism over how Nova Scotia RCMP warned public about killer|url=https://globalnews.ca/video/6850607/growing-criticism-over-how-nova-scotia-rcmp-warned-public-about-killer/|publisher=Global News|date=April 21, 2020|access-date=November 24, 2020}}{{cite web|title='An epic failure': The first duty of police is to preserve life; through the Nova Scotia massacre, the RCMP saved no one|url=https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/featured/an-epic-failure-the-first-duty-of-police-is-to-preserve-life-through-the-nova-scotia-massacre-the-rcmp-saved-no-one/|publisher=Halifax Examiner|last=Palango|first=Paul|date=July 18, 2020|access-date=November 24, 2020}} A criminologist criticized 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.{{cite news|url=https://globalnews.ca/news/7514276/nova-scotia-shooting-victim-families-struggle-heal/|title=Emotional aftermath: families of victims in Nova Scotia shooting struggle to heal|publisher=Global News|last1=Leffler|first1=Brennan|last2=Lord|first2=Ross|date=December 12, 2020|access-date=December 14, 2020}}

In the early 2020s, several governments, politicians, and scholars recommended terminating the RCMP's contract policing program.{{cite web|url=https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/08/11/the-rcmp-has-an-important-role-to-play-one-that-shouldnt-include-functioning-as-a-provincial-police-force.html|title=The RCMP has an important role to play – one that shouldn't include functioning as a provincial police service|access-date=August 13, 2022|website=Toronto Star|author=Wally Oppal|date=August 11, 2022 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/rcmp-mcadam-new-brunswick-police-1.6497599|title=McAdam's impatience with Mounties a sign N.B. should rethink reliance on RCMP, profs say|access-date=August 13, 2022|website=CBC News|author=Aidan Cox}}{{cite web|url=https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/trnsprnc/brfng-mtrls/trnstn-bndrs/20191120/013/index-en.aspx|title=Contract Policing|access-date=July 10, 2022|website=Government of Canada Briefing Book for the Minister of Public Safety Canada|date=March 18, 2020 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-racism-report-committee-1.6068970|title=Ottawa should explore removing Mounties from communities, MPs suggest|access-date=July 10, 2022|website=CBC News}} Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino was mandated to conduct a review of RCMP contract policing when he took office in 2022.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/rcmp-mcadam-new-brunswick-police-1.6497599|title=McAdam's impatience with Mounties a sign N.B. should rethink reliance on RCMP, profs say|access-date=July 10, 2022|website=CBC News}}

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.{{Cite news|last=Boutilier|first=Alex|date=June 8, 2021|title=RCMP broke privacy laws in using controversial Clearview AI facial recognition tools, watchdog says|work=Toronto Star|url=https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2021/06/10/rcmp-broke-privacy-laws-in-using-controversial-clearview-ai-facial-recognition-tools-watchdog-says.html|access-date=June 8, 2021}}

In February 2022, four men were arrested near Coutts, Alberta, for their roles in an alleged conspiracy to kill RCMP officers during the Canada convoy protest.{{Cite news |last=Tait |first=Carrie |date=September 7, 2022 |title=RCMP used undercover operatives, emergency wiretaps to target border blockade in Coutts, Alta.: court docs |language=en-CA |work=The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-rcmp-emergency-wiretaps-coutts-blockade/ |access-date=December 2, 2022}}

File:Queen Elizabeth II Funeral 19 09 2022-14 (52369485536).jpg in London, 2022.]]

On September 19, 2022, the RCMP led the procession through London, England, following the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II due to the long-standing special relationship with the Queen.{{cite web |title=The special role the Canadian Mounties played in Queen Elizabeth II's funeral |website=ctvnews.ca |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/the-special-role-the-canadian-mounties-played-in-queen-elizabeth-ii-s-funeral-1.6074444 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=September 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220919185407/https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/the-special-role-the-canadian-mounties-played-in-queen-elizabeth-ii-s-funeral-1.6074444}}{{cite web |title=Queen's funeral: Full guide to the gun carriage and the main procession |website=bbc.com |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62941422 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=September 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220919145726/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62941422}}

In 2023, the Mass Casualty Commission recommended that the RCMP replace its Depot-based training regime with a more intensive university-style program and that the federal public safety minister review the RCMP's involvement in contract policing.{{cite web|url=https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/key-recommendations-of-nova-scotia-mass-shooting-inquiry|title=Key recommendations of Nova Scotia mass shooting inquiry|website=National Post}} Later that year, the force established a new direct-entry program for federal policing candidates.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-federal-policing-frontline-flynn-1.6950735|title=RCMP federal policing recruits could soon skip Regina training depot, frontline policing|website=CBC News}} Those recruited for the program will be required to complete a shorter, more focussed 14-week training curriculum in Ottawa before being posted to a federal policing position.{{cite web|url=https://rcmp.ca/en/careers/become-police-officer-with-federal-policing-welcome-federal-policing-recruit-development-program|title=Become a police officer with Federal Policing|website=RCMP}} As of 2024, the implementation is suspended due to concerns raised by unions.https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/rcmp-ordered-to-halt-federal-policing-pilot-project

In the early 2020s, the cities of Surrey, British Columbia, and Grande Prairie, Alberta, both established independent municipal police forces to replace the RCMP. In the wake of these decisions, and similar moves by the governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan to establish supplementary provincial police services to support (and, according to some critics, eventually replace) the RCMP, Commissioner Mike Duheme indicated that the RCMP was learning how to better manage transitions to local policing from contract policing.{{cite news | url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-rcmp-ready-to-facilitate-end-of-contract-policing-commissioner/ | title=RCMP ready to facilitate end of contract policing: Commissioner - The… | newspaper=The Globe and Mail | date=August 18, 2024 | access-date=September 1, 2024 | archive-date=August 19, 2024 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20240819104053/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-rcmp-ready-to-facilitate-end-of-contract-policing-commissioner/ | url-status=bot: unknown }} Similar transitions have been proposed, debated, or approved in some Alberta First Nations, rural Manitoba, and rural New Brunswick.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/rcmp-nb-complaints-part-one-1.7373149|title='Everything is on the table,' Fundy Shores mayor says as communities question RCMP service|website=CBC News}}{{cite web|url=https://cornwallis.municipalwebsites.ca/ckfinder/connector?command=Proxy&lang=en&type=Files¤tFolder=%2F&hash=c245c263ce0eced480effe66bbede6b4d46c15ae&fileName=2022%20Annual%20Report.pdf|title=Cornwallis Police Board Annual Report - 2022|website=Rural Municipality of Cornwallis}}

{{Main|Colonial militia in Canada|French and Indian Wars}}

{{Further|Canada under British rule|European colonization of the Americas|New France}}

As the federal police service of the Government of Canada, the RCMP has had an expansive and controversial role in the colonization of Canada. One of the RCMP's two preceding agencies—the Royal Northwest Mounted Police (RNWMP)—had enjoyed a relatively positive relationship with the Indigenous peoples of Canada, buoyed by their role in restoring order to the Canadian West, which had been disrupted by immigrant settlement, and the stark contrast between Canadian policy and the ongoing American Indian Wars in the late 19th century. After the signing of the Numbered Treaties between 1871 and 1899, however, the service generally failed to provide Indigenous communities with police services equal to those provided to non-Indigenous communities.

American historian Andrew Graybill argued the RCMP historically resembled the Texas Rangers in many ways: each protected the established order by confining and removing Indigenous peoples; tightly controlling the mixed-blood peoples (the African Americans in Texas and the Métis in Canada); assisting the large-scale ranchers against the small-scale ranchers and farmers who fenced the land; and breaking the power of labor unions that tried to organize the workers of industrial corporations.Andrew R. Graybill, Policing the Great Plains: Rangers, Mounties, and the North American Frontier, 1875–1910 (University of Nebraska Press, 2007) [https://www.amazon.com/Policing-Great-Plains-Mounties-1875-1910/dp/0803260024/ excerpt and text search]

File:Nunavut-Feierlichkeit (01-04-99).jpg group in Kinngait to celebrate the establishment of Nunavut, 1999]]

From 1920 (1933, with respect to the Indian Act){{citation| url=https://caid.ca/RCMP-IRS2011.pdf| last=LeBeuf| first=Marcel-Eugène| title=The Role of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police During the Indian Residential School System| page=35| year=2011| publisher=Royal Canadian Mounted Police| location=Ottawa| accessdate=17 May 2023}} to 1996, RCMP officers served as truant officers for Indian residential schools, including through the transition of students from federal residential to provincial day schools after 1948,{{harvnb| LeBeuf| 2011| p=23}} assisting principals, staff, Indian agents, relatives, and members of the communities in bringing truant children to the schools,{{harvnb| LeBeuf| 2011| p=2}} sometimes by force,{{cite web|url=https://www.grc-rcmp.gc.ca/indigenous-autochtone/resident-schools-pensionnats-eng.htm|title=Indian Residential Schools and the RCMP|website=Royal Canadian Mounted Police|date=23 July 2019 |access-date=July 7, 2022}} as per the Indian Act, and as was common for truant non-Indigenous children through the same period.{{citation| url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/11f0019m/11f0019m2005251-eng.pdf?st=pWo2Pkf4| last=Oreopoulos| first=Philip| title=Canadian Compulsory School Laws and their Impact on Educational Attainment and Future Earnings| date=May 2005| pages=8–11| publisher=Statistics Canada| location=Ottawa| isbn=0-662-40421-1| accessdate=17 May 2023}} Marcel-Eugène LeBeuf stated in his report for the RCMP that records and oral histories indicate the force "was responding, in its most traditional police role, to a request to protect children"{{harvnb| LeBeuf| 2011| p=6}} and that abuses within the residential school system were largely unreported to the RCMP at the time.

During the federal government's imposition of municipal-style elected councils on First Nations people, the RCMP raided the government buildings of particularly resistant traditional hereditary chiefs' councils and oversaw the subsequent council elections—the Six Nations of the Grand River Elected Council was originally referred to as the "Mounties Council" as a result of the RCMP's involvement in its installation.{{cite web|url=https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/the-meaning-of-elections-for-six-nations|title=The Meaning of Elections for Six Nations|website=Briarpatch Magazine|access-date=July 7, 2022}}

File:RCMP ERT member points suppressed rifle at unarmed Wet'suwet'en protester..png member points suppressed rifle at unarmed Wet'suwet'en protester in November 2019.]]

In 1995, the RCMP intervened in the Gustafsen Lake standoff between the armed Ts'peten Defenders, occupying what they claimed was unceded Indigenous land, and armed ranchers, who owned the land and had previously allowed Indigenous people to use part of it on the condition they not erect permanent structures. The RCMP's response included 400 tactical assault team members, five helicopters, two surveillance planes, and nine Bison armoured personnel carriers on loan from the Canadian Army{{cite web|url=https://warriorpublications.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/tspeten-1995/ |title=Bison APC at Ts'Peten, 1995 |website=warriorpublications.wordpress.com |date=February 13, 2011 |access-date=2022-06-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823165212/https://warriorpublications.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/tspeten-1995/|archive-date=2021-08-23|url-status=live}} and sparked international controversy over the RCMP's use of unusually broad press exclusion zones.{{cite news |last=Johnson |first=William |title=RCMP Should Avoid Waco-Style Shootout In B.C. |work=Montreal Gazette |date=August 29, 1995 |url=http://www.nationnewsarchives.ca/article/rcmp-should-avoid-waco-style-shootout-in-b-c/ |quote="Perhaps it's the old newsman in me, but I'm uneasy about the reporting. Journalists have been kept away from the scene by the RCMP & the native occupiers could not tell their side of the story because Mounties have cut off their means of communication".}} One of the members of the Ts'peten Defenders was later granted political asylum in the United States after an Oregon judge found that the RCMP's reporting of the incident—marked by an RCMP member's off-hand comment to media that "smear campaigns are [the RCMP's] specialty"—amounted to a "disinformation campaign."{{cite web|url=https://www.straight.com/news/rcmp-history-of-smear-campaigns-warrants-skepticism-about-violent-confrontation-with-coastal|title=RCMP history of smear campaigns warrants skepticism about "violent confrontation" with Coastal GasLink workers|website=The Georgia Straight|date=17 February 2022 |access-date=July 7, 2022}}{{cite news |last1=Makin |first1=Kirk |title=U.S. judge won't extradite native activist |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/us-judge-wont-extradite-fugitive-native-activist/article22500327/ |access-date=1 December 2020 |work=The Globe and Mail |date=23 November 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201201030620/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/us-judge-wont-extradite-fugitive-native-activist/article22500327/ |archive-date=1 December 2020 }}

File:Wet’suwet’en solidarity banner on oil tank car February 15, 2020 02.jpg flag and a banner that reads RCMP off Wetsuweten land on a petroleum gas tank car during a solidarity protest against the Coastal GasLink Pipeline in Vaughan, 2020.]]

Between January 2019 and March 2020, the RCMP spent $13 million policing and periodically enforcing injunctions against Indigenous protesters blocking the construction of a pipeline across what the protesters asserted was unceded Wet'suwet'en territory. Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs Na'moks and Woos complained about the armed RCMP presence, as the police moved down the road, kilometre-by-kilometre, over days, dismantling fortified checkpoints and making arrests.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/rcmp-wetsuweten-pipeline-policing-costs-1.5769555|title=RCMP spent more than $13M on policing Coastal GasLink conflict on Wet'suwet'en territory|website=CBC News|access-date=August 12, 2022}} The RCMP's enforcement of a court injunction against the occupiers in 2020 sparked international controversy and protests. As of 2022, sporadic occupations and protests have continued at the site.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} There have also been attacks on infrastructure and work camps, allegedly by outside groups unaffiliated with Wet'suwet'en and other local people.{{cite news|title=Masked group attacks gas pipeline work camp|journal=The Globe and Mail|author=Nancy MacDonald and Brent Jang|page=A9|date=February 19, 2022}}

File:Remembrance Day field of crosses Calgary (24471910498).jpg ceremony, 2017]]

In the 1920s, Saskatchewan provincial pathologist Frances Gertrude McGill began providing forensic assistance to the RCMP in their investigations.{{cite web|url=http://www.thewhig.com/2013/04/23/canadas-sherlock-holmes-of-forensic-science|title=Canada's 'Sherlock Holmes of Forensic Science'|website=The Kingston Whig-Standard|access-date=May 25, 2018}} She helped establish the first RCMP forensic laboratory in 1937,{{Cite book|title=The encyclopedia of Saskatchewan |date=2005|publisher=University of Regina, Canadian Plains Research Centre |isbn=0889771758|location=Regina|page=584|oclc=57639332}} and later was 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. Upon her retirement in 1946, McGill was appointed honorary surgeon to the RCMP and continued to act as a dedicated consultant for the service up until her death in 1959.{{Cite news|url=https://leaderpost.com/news/saskatchewan/dr-frances-mcgill-was-saskatchewans-answer-to-sherlock-holmes|title=Dr. Frances McGill was Saskatchewan's answer to Sherlock Holmes|date=May 19, 2017|work=Regina Leader-Post|access-date=May 25, 2018}}

On May 23, 1974, RCMP Commissioner Maurice Nadon announced that the RCMP would accept applications from women as regular members of the service. Troop 17 was the first group of 32 women at Depot in Regina on September 16, 1974, for regular training.{{cite news |title=32 women join RCMP |agency=Canadian Press |newspaper=The Expositor |location=Brantford, Ontario |date=September 17, 1974 |page =74}} This first all-female troop of 30 women graduated from Depot on March 3, 1975.{{cite news |title=Troop 17 Graduates |author=Colleen Slater-Smith |newspaper=The Leader-Post |location=Regina, Saskatchewan |date=March 3, 1975 |page =4}}

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 a small black clutch purse (however, in 2012 the RCMP began to allow women to wear trousers and boots with all their formal uniforms).{{cite web |last1=Moore |first1=Dene |date=2012-08-16 |url=https://vancouversun.com/life/fashion-beauty/Female+Mounties+earn+right+wear+pants+boots+with+formal+uniforms/7102550/story.html?__lsa=067d-6627 |title=Female Mounties earn right to wear pants and boots with all formal uniforms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106183314/http://www.vancouversun.com/life/fashion-beauty/Female+Mounties+earn+right+wear+pants+boots+with+formal+uniforms/7102550/story.html?__lsa=067d-6627 |archive-date=November 6, 2018 |website=Vancouver Sun |access-date= 2014-04-12}}) 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.

{{col div}}

• 1981: corporal, musical ride
• 1987: foreign post
• 1990: detachment commander
• 1992: commissioned officer
• 1998: assistant commissioner
• 2000: deputy commissioner
• 2006: interim commissioner{{cite news|date=July 16, 2007|title=William Elliott sworn in as RCMP commissioner|publisher=CBC News|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/william-elliott-sworn-in-as-rcmp-commissioner-1.668804|access-date=June 13, 2018|quote=...the organization's first chief not to have served on a police service.}}{{cite news|author=Andrew Mayada|date=December 15, 2007|title=RCMP commissioner promises sweeping changes|publisher=CanWest News Service|url=http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=38a04926-a29d-4a23-91fd-173d1e03dec1|access-date=July 30, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217152327/http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=38a04926-a29d-4a23-91fd-173d1e03dec1|archive-date=December 17, 2007|quote=Elliott was appointed the first civilian commissioner in the RCMP's history|df=mdy-all}}{{NoteTag|note=Beverley Busson was the first woman to have held the top position in the service, albeit on an interim basis. She was 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.}}
• 2018: permanent commissioner{{cite web|date=March 9, 2018|title=Prime Minister announces new Commissioner Designate of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police|url=https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2018/03/09/prime-minister-announces-new-commissioner-designate-royal-canadian|website=Prime Minister of Canada}}

{{col div end}}

Policing by the RCMP and other public and private security has been central to disputes over land claims and assertions of sovereignty over land use by Indigenous peoples in Canada (First Nations and Metis). Recent notable confrontations over rights to self-determination of land use have precipitated around opposition to pipeline infrastructure through traditional and ancestral lands of Indigenous peoples. Recent scholarship highlights how the policing of anti-pipeline movements (e.g. against the Coastal GasLink pipeline or the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota, USA) can serve to actively enforce the violation of Indigenous rights and perpetuate Canada’s fossil fuel dependency and the country’s contribution to the climate crisis.{{Citation |last=Gobby |first=Jen |title=Policing Indigenous Land Defense and Climate Activism: Learnings from the Frontlines of Pipeline Resistance in Canada |date=2022 |work=Enforcing Ecocide: Power, Policing & Planetary Militarization |pages=89–121 |editor-last=Dunlap |editor-first=Alexander |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-99646-8_4 |access-date=2025-04-09 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-99646-8_4 |isbn=978-3-030-99646-8 |last2=Everett |first2=Lucy |editor2-last=Brock |editor2-first=Andrea}}

File:RCMP-officer-river-camp.jpg is hiding their identity. It may be common for officers to do this when they wish to preserve their anonymity, like when carrying out unpopular orders in their local community.]]

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) gained access to internal police documents exposing “[a]n RCMP national security unit monitored First Nations-led anti-pipeline activism for ‘potential threats to the energy, transportation and banking sectors between 2021 and 2022.”{{Cite news |last=Forester |first=Brett |date=November 7, 2024 |title=RCMP national security unit monitored 'threats' linked to Wet'suwet'en anti-pipeline activism, records show |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/rcmp-critical-infrastructure-wetsuweten-1.7375872 |access-date=April 9, 2025 |work=CBC News}} This unit, named the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG), was formed in 2016,{{Cite web |last=Pasternak |first=Shiri |date=2023-05-19 |title=The campaign to abolish the RCMP unit called C-IRG |url=https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/05/19/opinion/campaign-abolish-rcmp-unit-called-c-irg |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=National Observer |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Pasternak |first=Shiri |title=The Dangerous RCMP Unit called C-IRG |url=https://rcmpheritage.ca/rcmp-history/indigenous-peoples/the-dangerous-rcmp-unit-called-c-irg/ |access-date=April 9, 2025 |website=National RCMP Research Council}} originally to secure the Coastal GasLink pipeline project, a pipeline carrying natural gas from gas plays in Northeastern BC to the BC coast transiting through Wet'suwet'en and other First Nations territories, much of which remains unceded.

Surveillance by the RCMP and CSIS has also played a critical role in suppressing civil society, notably environmental activists.{{Cite web |last=Livesey |first=Bruce |date=2017-05-05 |title=Spies in our midst: RCMP and CSIS snoop on green activists |url=https://www.nationalobserver.com/2017/05/05/news/spies-our-midst-rcmp-and-csis-snoop-green-activists |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=National Observer |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Barrera |first=Jorge |date=Jan 14, 2020 |title=RCMP reactivated list of flagged activists days before Trans Mountain decision, documents show |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/rcmp-project-sitka-list-1.5422152 |access-date=April 9, 2025 |work=CBC News}} The financial expense incurred to the public for these policing efforts are significant—internal RCMP accounting shows that the C-IRG unit spent almost $50M on policing pipeline, logging standoffs in B.C. in its first five years of operations.{{Cite news |last=Forester |first=Brett |date=Jan 6, 2023 |title=RCMP has spent nearly $50M on policing pipeline, logging standoffs in B.C. |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/rcmp-cirg-spending-resource-extraction-1.6705076 |access-date=Apr 9, 2025 |work=CBC News}} This spending comprised approximately $3.5M, $27.6M, and $18.7M policing the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline, CoastalGas Link pipeline, and Fairy Creek logging blockage, respectively.

An Access to Information request revealed documents containing requests by the National Energy Board to the RCMP and CSIS to monitor and report on advocacy groups who opposed pipeline projects.{{Cite news |date=Feb 6, 2014 |title=Alleged CSIS, RCMP spying on Northern Gateway pipeline protesters prompts complaint |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/alleged-csis-rcmp-spying-on-northern-gateway-pipeline-protesters-prompts-complaint-1.2526218 |access-date=Apr 9, 2025 |work=CBC News}} According to the records, a member of CSIS or RCMP allegedly infiltrated a community organizing meeting and wrote a report on their findings sharing with Enbridge — the company that owns the Northern Gateway pipeline project — as well as other prominent oil and gas industry leaders part of Natural Resources Canada. The BC Civil Liberties Association launched two formal complaints regarding “improper surveillance” on civilian advocacy groups, claiming the act unconstitutional and illegal to surveil such “peaceful democratic activities.”

Project Sitka was a coordinated intelligence effort to compile names of Indigenous and non-Indigenous activists who may use "unlawful tactics" in Indigenous resistance protests. The initiative was concluded in 2015 but was revived in 2016 after the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion's approval. The RCMP instructed officers to "provide any updates to Project Sitka's list of disruptive and volatile subjects from respective divisions."

The RCMP spent around $3.5M policing protests around the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline project.

Tiny House Warriors — a group of Indigenous activists who erected small houses along the pipeline's right of way{{Cite news |date=July 3, 2020 |title=Chiefs urge Tiny House Warriors to end pipeline protest camp in B.C.'s central Interior |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/tmx-pipeline-protest-tiny-house-loring-blue-river-1.5635691 |access-date=Apr 9, 2025 |work=CBC News}} — were attacked by a group of masked assailants who destroyed ritual installations, physically attacked activists, and stole and drove one of the activists cars into their protest house.{{Cite news |last=Bellrichard |first=Chantelle |date=Apr 22, 2020 |title=RCMP investigating incident at Tiny House Warriors village in Blue River, B.C. |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/tiny-house-village-rcmp-investigate-incident-1.5541726 |access-date=Apr 9, 2025 |work=CBC News}} A prominent spokesperson for the Tiny House Warriors, Kanahus Manuel, who was based about 175 kilometres northeast of Kamloops and whose car was used by assailants to attempt to demolish her house, told the Tyee that she was convinced "there was not even any attempt by the RCMP to look for these guys."{{Cite web |title=Three Months after Attack, Tiny House Warriors Complain of RCMP Inaction |url=https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/07/03/Tiny-House-Warriors-Complain-About-RCMP-Inaction/ |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=The Tyee}}

{{Further|2020 Canadian pipeline and railway protests}}

File:RCMP_ERT_member_points_suppressed_rifle_at_unarmed_Wet'suwet'en_protester..png

On December 14, 2018, a provincial court granted TransCanada (now TC Energy) an injunction to proceed with construction efforts of their Coastal Gas Link pipeline — a 670 km long pipeline that would pass through the Wet’suwet’en Nation. At the time, the Unist’ot’en Camp blockade was actively protesting the development. A new checkpoint was set up on land of the Gitim'ten (Gitimd’en),{{Cite news |date=2019-01-03 |title=Call to Action: How to Support the Gitimt’en Camp |url=https://itsgoingdown.org/call-to-action-how-to-support-the-gitimten-camp/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20221207014834/https://itsgoingdown.org/call-to-action-how-to-support-the-gitimten-camp/ |archive-date=2022-12-07 |access-date=2025-04-09 |work=It's Going Down |language=en-US}} one of the five clans of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, to continue blocking access to the construction site.

File:UnistotenCamp.jpg

On January 7, 2018, the RCMP conducted a militarized raid on the Gitim'ten checkpoint, arresting 14 people. Investigations revealed that prior to the raid, RCMP commanders had instructed and encouraged violence, "lethal overwatch" (a term to deploy lethal force), and that arrests were necessary to "sterilize the site."{{Cite news |last=Dhillon |first=Jaskiran |last2=Parrish |first2=Will |date=2019-12-20 |title=Exclusive: Canada police prepared to shoot Indigenous activists, documents show |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/20/canada-indigenous-land-defenders-police-documents |access-date=2025-04-09 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

After the violent evictions, and surveillance recorded of Indigenous land defenders, the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination published a letter calling for more information on the ceasing of construction of the Trans Mountain Pipeline and the Coastal Gas Link Pipeline due to the related harms caused to the Secwépemc and Wet’suwet’en peoples.Office of the UN High Commissioner. April 29, 2022. CERD/EWUAP/106th session/2022/MJ/CS/ks. Available at: https://www.aptnnews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/INT_CERD_ALE_CAN_9554_E.pdf

A report by Amnesty International detailed widespread "intimidation and harassment" of Wet’suwet’en people by the RCMP when acting to protect the CoastalGas Link's construction.{{Cite web |last=Reporter |first=Cara McKenna Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Meral Jamal, Local Journalism Initiative |date=2023-12-12 |title=Report details 'intimidation and harassment' of Wet'suwet'en people by RCMP protecting pipeline company |url=https://indiginews.com/features/report-details-intimidation-and-harassment-of-wetsuweten-people-by-rcmp-protecting-pipeline-company |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=IndigiNews |language=en-US}}{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Removed from our land for defending it: Criminalization, Intimidation and Harassment of Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders |url=https://amnesty.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/wetsuweten-report.pdf |journal=Amnesty International}}

Several global summits where protests erupted decrying global injustices suffered violent repression by RCMP and local police forces. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 3rd Summit of the Americas hosted in Quebec City from April 20 to 22, 2001 faced massive protests, referred to as the Quebec City (or A20) protests. Police liberally fired tear gas and rubber bullets and deployed water cannons to attack and disperse the crowd.{{Cite news |date=Apr 22, 2001 |title=Police fire water cannon, tear gas in Quebec City |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/police-fire-water-cannon-tear-gas-in-quebec-city-1.291444 |access-date=Apr 9, 2025 |work=CBC News}} On November 13, 2003, the complaint's chairwoman Shirley Heafey argued that "RCMP members used excessive and unjustified force in releasing tear gas to move the protesters when a more measured response could have been attempted first."{{Cite news |date=Nov 13, 2003 |title=RCMP used 'excessive force' at Quebec summit: report |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/rcmp-used-excessive-force-at-quebec-summit-report-1.376799 |access-date=Apr 9, 2025 |work=CBC News}}

File:Toronto_G20_Protests.tif

Other summits where the RCMP played a role in a controversial police response to protests include the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) summit in Montebello, Quebec in August 2007, where masked protesters believed to be undercover police incited violence.{{Cite news |date=Aug 22, 2007 |title=Undercover cops tried to incite violence in Montebello: union leader |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/undercover-cops-tried-to-incite-violence-in-montebello-union-leader-1.646775 |work=CBC News}} There was also what was then named the "largest-ever police spy operation" aimed at activists organizing the 2010 G20 Summit protests in Toronto, Ontario.{{cite web |last=Groves |first=Tim |last2=Dubinsky |first2=Zach |date=Nov 22, 2011 |title=G20 case reveals 'largest ever' police spy operation |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/g20-case-reveals-largest-ever-police-spy-operation-1.1054582 |website=CBC News}} It was revealed via Freedom of Information requests that "at least 12 undercover officers infiltrated groups" spanning Vancouver, southern Ontario, Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa, in one of the largest-ever such operations internal to Canada.{{cite news |last1=Morrow |first1=Adrian |last2=MacKrael |first2=Kim |date=22 November 2011 |title=How police infiltrated groups planning G20 protests |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/how-police-infiltrated-groups-planning-g20-protests/article4170473/ |website=Globe and Mail}}{{cite web |date=30 July 2010 |title=Police Infiltrate Anarchists and Activists (Guelph, Kitchener, Toronto) |url=https://snitchwire.blogspot.com/2010/07/police-infiltrate-anarchists-and.html |website=SnitchWire}}{{cite web |title=Infiltrated! |url=https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/infiltrated |website=Briarpatch}}{{cite web |date=26 June 2012 |title=Julian Ichim hits police with $4M lawsuit for G20-related damages |url=http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/johnbon/2012/06/julian-ichim-hits-police-4m-lawsuit |website=rabble.ca}}

The RCMP is organized under the authority of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act (RCMP Act), an act of the Parliament of Canada. Under sections 3 and 4 of the RCMP Act, the RCMP is a police service for Canada; namely, a federal police service.{{cite web|url=http://canlii.ca/t/54310#sec3|title=Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, RSC 1985, c R-10, ss 3–4}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://canlii.ca/t/54310#sec20|title=Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, RSC 1985, c R-10, s 20}} As explained by Justice Ivan Rand of the Supreme Court of Canada, "what is set up is a police service 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."R v White, [1956] SCR 154, [https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1955/1955canlii48/1955canlii48.html 1955 CanLII 48] at 158.

Under section 5 of the RCMP Act,{{cite web|url=http://canlii.ca/t/54310#sec5|title=Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, RSC 1985, c R-10, s 5}} 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 service and all matters connected therewith. The RCMP is provided with a senior executive committee (SEC) which{{cite web|url=http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/rcmp-executive|title=RCMP executive | Royal Canadian Mounted Police|first=Royal Canadian Mounted Police|last=Government of Canada|date=September 22, 2016|website=www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca|access-date=May 30, 2017|archive-date=July 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721015120/http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/rcmp-executive|url-status=dead}}{{cquote|is the senior decision-making forum established by the Commissioner for the development and approval of strategic, service-wide policies, under 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 direction and accountability.}} The commissioner is assisted by deputy commissioners in charge of Contract and Indigenous Policing, Federal Policing, and Specialized Policing Services. The commanding officers of K Division and E Division are also named deputy commissioners.{{cite web|url=https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/rcmp-executive|title=RCMP executiev|website=www.rcmp-grc.ca|publisher=Royal Canadian Mounted Police|access-date=14 December 2022|date=7 December 2022|archive-date=December 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208204642/https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/rcmp-executive|url-status=dead}}

The RCMP divides the country into divisions for command purposes. In general, each division is coterminous with a province (for example, C Division in Quebec). The province of Ontario, however, is divided into two divisions: National Division (National Capital Region) and O Division (rest of the province). There is one additional division, Depot Division, which comprises the RCMP Academy in Regina and the Police Dog Service Training Centre{{cite web|url=http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/pds/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625214312/http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/pds/|title=RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre|date=January 2004|archive-date=June 25, 2008}} in Innisfail. The RCMP National Headquarters are in Ottawa, Ontario, established in 1920.{{Cite web |date=2023-02-15 |title=History of the divisions |url=https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/corporate-organisation/history-histoire/history-divisions-histoire-divisions-eng.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231011001759/https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/corporate-organisation/history-histoire/history-divisions-histoire-divisions-eng.htm |archive-date=2023-10-11 |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=RCMP.ca}}

File:"N" Division, Stable Building.JPG]]

File:RCMP in Whitehorse.jpg]]

Some historical divisions are no longer in use.

File:Royal Canadian Mounted Police.jpg, Nunavut]]

A detachment is a section of the RCMP that polices a local area. Detachments vary greatly in size.

The largest RCMP detachment is in Burnaby, British Columbia.[https://www.ecomm911.ca/news-events/news-releases/2013/BurnabyRCMP.php Canada's second largest RCMP detachment integrates dispatch with E-Comm Regional communications centre] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309183820/https://www.ecomm911.ca/news-events/news-releases/2013/BurnabyRCMP.php |date=March 9, 2018 }} (press release), E-Comm (October 2, 2013). Previously, Surrey, British Columbia, once had the largest detachment with over a thousand employees. However, amid criticism over gang violence and growing debate during the 2018 civic election, the municipal Surrey Police Service eventually assumed jurisdiction, ending Surrey's RCMP policing contract that had been in place since 1951.[http://surrey.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=70&languageId=1 Your Surrey RCMP], Royal Canadian Mounted Police (last modified March 31, 2016).{{cite news |last=Zytaruk |first=Tom |title=Surrey Police Service becomes city's police of jurisdiction |url=https://www.surreynowleader.com/local-news/surrey-police-service-becomes-citys-police-of-jurisdiction-today-7674689 |access-date=2024-11-29 |work=Surrey Now-Leader |date=2024-12-30}}

Conversely, detachments in small, isolated rural communities have as few as three officers. The RCMP formerly had many single-officer detachments in these areas,Renato Gandia, [http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/04/12/rcmp-pays-tribute-to-wives-who-supported-officers-posted-to-smallest-detachments RCMP pays tribute to wives who supported officers posted to smallest detachments] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806170922/http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/04/12/rcmp-pays-tribute-to-wives-who-supported-officers-posted-to-smallest-detachments |date=August 6, 2016 }}, Calgary Sun (April 12, 2013).[http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-s-single-officer-rcmp-detachments-to-be-closed-1.1258381 B.C.'s single-officer RCMP detachments to be closed], CBC News (September 28, 2012). but in 2012 the RCMP announced that it was introducing a requirement that detachments should have at least three officers.

As of 2022, several large Indigenous communities do not have RCMP detachments and are instead served by detachments in much smaller non-Indigenous communities.{{cite web|url=https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/siksika-nation-to-get-self-administered-police-service|title=Siksika Nation to get self-administered police service|website=Calgary Herald|author=Michael Rodriguez}}

{{further|Monarchy of Canada#Federal residences and royal household}}

File:Sécurité-prince charles.jpg), 2009]]

The Personal Protection Group (PPG) is a 180-member group responsible for security details for the monarch, other members of the royal family, and other VIPs. It was created after the 1995 break-in at 24 Sussex Drive. There are three units within the PPG: The Governor General's Protection Detail and the Prime Minister's Protection Detail provide bodyguards for the safety of the governor general of Canada and the prime minister of Canada, respectively, in Canada and abroad. These units are based in Ottawa, the former with operations at Rideau Hall (the monarch's and governor general's official residence in the capital) and the latter at 24 Sussex Drive (the prime minister's official residence) and Harrington Lake (the prime minister's retreat), near Chelsea, Quebec. The Very Important Persons Security Section provides security details to VIPs (including the chief justice of Canada, federal ministers other than the prime minister, and diplomats) and others under the direction of the minister of public safety.

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 assist in investigations that directly affect Canada, to coordinate and assist RCMP officers on foreign business and to represent the RCMP at international meetings.{{cite web |title=Fact Sheet: International Operations Branch |url=http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ip-pi/pdf/iob-soi-eng.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202213850/http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ip-pi/pdf/iob-soi-eng.pdf |archive-date=December 2, 2010 |access-date=April 28, 2010 |publisher=Royal Canadian Mounted Police |df=mdy-all}}

Liaison officers are in:

File:RCMP in Kosovo.jpg, 1999]]

File:ANP officers and leaders move toward self-sufficiency DVIDS347312.jpg members as they shoot at targets in Kandahar, 2010]]

{{div col}}

• Africa & Middle East:
• Rabat, Morocco
• Pretoria, South Africa
• Amman, Jordan
• Dubai, U.A.E.
• Asia-Pacific:
• New Delhi, India
• Islamabad, Pakistan
• Bangkok, Thailand
• Hong Kong SAR
• Beijing, China
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Europe:
• London, United Kingdom
• Mons, Belgium (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe)
• Paris, France
• Berlin, Germany
• The Hague, Netherlands
• Gdynia, Poland
• Rome, Italy
• The Americas:
• Kingston, Jamaica
• Mexico City, Mexico
• Bogotá, Colombia
• Caracas, Venezuela
• Brasília, Brazil
• Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
• Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
• United States:
• Miami, Florida
• New York, New York
• Seattle, Washington
• Washington, D.C.

{{div col end}}

File:Haiti3.jpg

The RCMP also provides law enforcement training overseas in Iraq and other Canadian peacekeeping missions. The RCMP has 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.[https://web.archive.org/web/20041021054518/http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/news/cida_rcmp_e.htm RCMP Website] and [https://archive.today/20070802045522/http://www.rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?x=44206 "Haiti Support Hits the Streets"]

{{As of|2019|04|01|df=US}}, the RCMP employed 30,196 men and women, including police officers, civilian members, and public service employees.{{cite web|url=https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/about-rcmp|title=About the RCMP > RCMP workforce|website=www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca|date=November 22, 2021|access-date=February 24, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228055017/http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/about-ausujet/organi-eng.htm|archive-date=February 28, 2009}}

Actual personnel strength by ranks:

File:RCMP officers Beth, Janice & Harp 2.jpg, 2009.]]

• 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

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) compensates its officers based on a tiered pay scale that reflects their rank and years of service. Entry-level constables begin with a starting salary of $71,191 per year, {{Cite web |last=Simonis |first=Edythe |date=2024-08-22 |title=RCMP Salaries by Rank in Canada: A Detailed Guide |url=https://mrait.ca/ls/rcmp/rcmp-salaries-by-rank-in-canada.html |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Mr Ait: Unveiling Vancouver's Vibes |language=en-US}}with incremental raises leading to higher earnings as they gain experience:

• 6 months of service: $92,497 per year
• 12 months of service: $100,356 per year
• 24 months of service: $108,220 per year
• 36 months of service: $115,350 per year

File:Grc3.jpg

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.

Besides the regular RCMP officers, several types of designations exist which give them assorted powers and responsibilities over policing issues.

Presently, there are:

• Community constables: Varies across Canada {{Citation needed|reason=Awaiting formal report for the RCMP. The current number reflects the sum of former ACCs and CSOs after their merger into the CC Program.|date=July 2018}}
• Reserve constables : Varies across Canada{{cite web|url=http://bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=23&languageId=1&contentId=32324|title=RCMP in British Columbia – Reserve Constables|first=Royal Canadian Mounted Police|last=Government of Canada|date=November 7, 2013|website=bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca}}
• Auxiliary constables: Varies across Canada
• Special constables: 122
• Civilian criminal investigators: 35 [https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/gazette/civilian-investigators-coming-rcmp Civilian investigators coming to RCMP]
• Civilian members: 7,590
• Public servants: 3,497

A designation introduced in 2014 as a replacement for the community safety officers and Indigenous community constables pilot programs.{{cite web|url=https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/cntrng-crm/plcng/cnmcs-plcng/ndx/snpss-en.aspx?n=97|title=Index of Policing Initiatives|date=December 21, 2018|website=www.publicsafety.gc.ca}}{{cite web|url=http://www.thenownewspaper.com/news/surrey-rcmp-s-community-safety-officer-program-chopped-1.884224|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140907010436/http://www.thenownewspaper.com/news/surrey-rcmp-s-community-safety-officer-program-chopped-1.884224|title=Surrey RCMP's Community Safety Officer program chopped|work=Surrey Now |archive-date=September 7, 2014 |last1=Zytaruk |first1=Tom }} Community constables are armed, paid members holding the rank of special constables, with peace officer power.{{cite web|url=https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/careers|title=Careers | Royal Canadian Mounted Police|first=Royal Canadian Mounted Police|last=Government of Canada|date=June 6, 2016|website=www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca}} They are to provide a bridge between the local citizens and the RCMP using their local and cultural knowledge.{{cite web|url=http://www.panow.com/node/430056|title=Community-level knowledge sought in new RCMP program|access-date=September 6, 2014|archive-date=September 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140907010241/http://www.panow.com/node/430056}} They are mostly focused on crime prevention, liaisons with the community, and providing resources in the event of a large-scale event.{{cite web|url=http://www.thompsoncitizen.net/article/20140312/THOMPSON0101/303129998/-1/THOMPSON/community-constables-link-citizens-and-police|title=Community constables link citizens and police|work=Thompson Citizen|access-date=September 6, 2014|archive-date=March 15, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140315034654/http://www.thompsoncitizen.net/article/20140312/THOMPSON0101/303129998/-1/THOMPSON/community-constables-link-citizens-and-police}}

A program reinstated in 2004 in British Columbia, it was later expanded to cover all of Canada to allow for retired, regular RCMP members and other provincially trained officers to provide extra manpower when shortages are identified.{{cite web|url=http://www.rcmpvetsnb.ca/ByLaws/Reserves/reserves.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090605023220/http://www.rcmpvetsnb.ca/ByLaws/Reserves/reserves.php|archive-date=2009-06-05 |title=RCMP Reserve Program |publisher=Rcmpvetsnb.ca |date=January 1, 1995 |url-status=usurped|access-date=May 22, 2010}} 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.{{cite web |url=http://bc.cb.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=154&languageId=1&contentId=32324 |title=RCMP Reserve Constables in B.C. |access-date=September 6, 2014 |archive-date=September 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904074834/http://bc.cb.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=154&languageId=1&contentId=32324 }} However, they are not allowed to carry service-issued sidearms and use of force options unless they are called upon to duty. They generally carry out community policing roles but may also be called upon if an emergency occurs.{{cite web|url=http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20091018999910699/local/news/retired-mounties-back-in-saddle.html|title=Retired Mounties back in saddle}}{{Dead link|date=July 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

File:C7f6fa199070883.664bbe4840669.jpg

Volunteers within their community, appointed under provincial police acts.{{cite web|url=http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ccaps-spcca/auxil-eng.htm|title=Auxiliary Constable Program|access-date=September 5, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508061111/http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ccaps-spcca/auxil-eng.htm|archive-date=May 8, 2016|df=mdy-all}} Auxiliary constables 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, and assistance during situations where regular members might be overwhelmed with their duties (e.g., keeping watch of a backseat detainee while an RM interviews a victim). They are identified by the wording "RCMP Auxiliary" on cars, jackets, and shoulder flashes.

Employees of the RCMP have varied duties depending on where they are deployed but are often given this designation because of the expertise they possess that needs to be applied in a certain area. For example, an Indigenous person might be appointed a special constable 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, 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 people were hired by the RCMP as special constables and were employed as guides 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 the regimental functions of the RCMP. Most pilots for RCMP aircraft, such as fixed-wing planes or helicopters, are special constables.

CCIs were implemented in 2021. They are civilian unarmed staff members, with limited peace officer status and are restricted from making physical arrests.[https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/civilian-criminal-investigators Civilian Criminal Investigators] CCIs have backgrounds in computer science or financial markets and are involved in specialized investigations. They participate in interviews, the preparation of court documents, and the searching of scenes.

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 service. Civilian members represent approximately 14 percent 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.

• Administrative
• Human resource management
• Police Records Information Management Environment (PRIME-BC)
• Policy development and analysis
• Staff development and training
• Translation
• Operations
• Telecommunications operator (dispatcher){{cite web|url=http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/recruiting-recrutement/cm-mc/teleops-opstele-eng.htm |title=Telecommunications Operators |publisher=rcmp-grc.gc.ca |date=July 30, 2010|access-date=September 1, 2010}}
• Scientific (forensic laboratory services){{cite web |title=National Forensic Laboratory Services |url=https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/fsis-ssji/forensic-services-judiciaires-eng.htm |website=Royal Canadian Mounted Police |date=October 9, 2018 |publisher=R.C.M.P. |access-date=2 June 2023}}
• Biology services
• Firearms and toolmark identification (covering Forensic firearm examination, ballistics, and related examinations)
• National Anti-counterfeiting Bureau
• Toxicology services
• Trace evidence
• Technical
• Communications
• Computer systems development
• Counterfeit analysis
• Document examination
• Electronics Technology
• Firearms technology
• Forensic identification services
• Information services and public affairs
• Information technology
• Instrument technology
• Telecommunications

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.

File:Bomb-disposal unit.jpg]

Abbreviated as "ME" they are found in RCMP detachments where a contract exists with a municipality to provide front-line policing. MEs are not 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.

{{See also|Police ranks of Canada}}

The rank system of the RCMP is partly a result of their origin as a paramilitary service. Upon its founding, the RCMP adopted the rank insignia of the Canadian Militia (which in turn came from the British Army). As in the military, the RCMP also has a distinction between commissioned and non-commissioned officers.{{cite web|url=https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/depot/orientation/prep-preparer/things-to-know-choses-a-savoir/ranks-grades-eng.htm|title=Ranks of the service|website=Royal Canadian Mounted Police|date=May 21, 2015|access-date=25 January 2021|archive-date=January 31, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210131140454/https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/depot/orientation/prep-preparer/things-to-know-choses-a-savoir/ranks-grades-eng.htm|url-status=dead}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://uniforminsignia.org/?option=com_insigniasearch&Itemid=53&result=552|title=Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP¨) / Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) / Gendarmerie royale du Canada (GRC)|website=uniforminsignia.org}} 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 service, while the lower commissioned rank of sub-inspector has been dropped.

The numbers are current as of April 1, 2019:{{cite web |last1=Government of Canada |first1=Royal Canadian Mounted Police |url=http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/about-ausujet/organi-eng.htm |title=Organizational Structure |website=www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca |access-date=17 May 2019 |date=1 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228055017/http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/about-ausujet/organi-eng.htm |archive-date=February 28, 2009}}{{cite web |url=http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/regular-member-annual-rates-pay |title=Regular Member – Annual Rates of Pay {{!}} Royal Canadian Mounted Police |last=Government of Canada |first=Royal Canadian Mounted Police |date=2012-09-14 |website=www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca |access-date=2019-07-17 |archive-date=June 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630232516/http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/regular-member-annual-rates-pay |url-status=dead}}

These are the official abbreviations for the commissioned and non-commissioned officers in the RCMP.{{cite web |url=https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/rcmp-executive |title=RCMP executive | Royal Canadian Mounted Police |first=Royal Canadian Mounted Police |last=Government of Canada |date=September 22, 2016 |website=www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca |access-date=December 6, 2020 |archive-date=December 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208204642/https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/rcmp-executive |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/nb/commanding-officer |title=Commanding Officer | Royal Canadian Mounted Police |first=Royal Canadian Mounted Police |last=Government of Canada |date=June 21, 2016 |website=www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca}}

The inspector ranks and higher ranks are commissioned ranks and are appointed by the Governor-in-Council. Depending on the badges and dresses which 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' insignias & insignias have 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. 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 ({{lang|la|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).p.38 Ross, David & May Robin The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (1873–1987) 1988 Osprey Publishing. A reorganization in 1960 changed the insignia to three "pips" for sub-inspectorspp. 38–39 Ross, David & May, Robin The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (1873–1987) 1988 Osprey Publishing. and a crown for inspectors,pp. 38–39 Ross, David & May, Robin The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (1873–1987) 1988 Osprey Publishing 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 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. ({{lang|fr|GRC}} stands for {{lang|fr|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 (1969) .

Several members of the Canadian royal family hold honorary titles in the RCMP. These roles are comparable to the colonel-in-chief and honorary colonel positions in the Canadian Army, serving as promoters of the service's identity, traditions, and history, as well as making occasional visits to operational units. The commissioner-in-chief of the RCMP receives information and updates on important activities and serve as an advisor to the force's commanding officer; although, they do not play an operational role with the service.{{cite web| url=https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/corporate-organisation/history-histoire/royal-family-famille-royale-eng.htm| title=The Royal Family and the RCMP| date=30 April 2023| publisher=Royal Canadian Mounted Police| accessdate=26 March 2023}}

In addition to members of the Canadian Royal Family holding these positions, as federal law enforcement officers all members of the RCMP swear allegiance to the Monarch of Canada, presently King Charles III.{{Cite web |date=c. 2014 |title=National Police Federation {{!}} Members' Rights and Responsibilities |url=https://npf-fpn.com/app/uploads/2021/06/PART_I_-_Members_Statutory_Responsibilities.pdf |access-date=8 December 2024 |website=npf-fpn.com/}}

{{See also|Colonel-in-chief}}

The commissioner-in-chief is the most senior honorary and ceremonial leadership position in the RCMP; it is held by Charles III, King of Canada, who was bestowed the role prior to his coronation in 2023.{{Cite news |date=2023-04-29 |title=King Charles: Mounties present King with horse and sword |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-65431808 |access-date=2024-12-08 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}

The role was established as a separate role for the Canadian monarch from that of honorary commissioner in 2012. The first holder was Queen Elizabeth II, who was bestowed the title in celebration of her diamond jubilee.{{Cite web |date=2023-02-15 |title=The Royal Family and the RCMP - RCMP.ca |url=https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/corporate-organisation/history-histoire/royal-family-famille-royale-eng.htm |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca}} The role was created to show and maintain the close link between the Canadian monarch and the RCMP. The role has no day-to-day operational function, but the commissioner-in-chief receives regular updates on the important activities of the RCMP, as well as promoting the Mounted Police both in Canada and abroad, and visiting RCMP events.{{Cite web |date=2023-02-15 |title=The Royal Family and the RCMP - RCMP.ca |url=https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/corporate-organisation/history-histoire/royal-family-famille-royale-eng.htm |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca}} Upon appointment the commissioner-in-chief is presented with a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer's sword, bearing the Canadian coat of arms and the royal cypher.

Before the creation of commissioner in chief, the role of honorary commissioner was usually held by periodically by the Canadian monarchs and heirs apparent. Since 2023 the role of honorary commissioner has not been in use.

Honorary deputy commissioners are honorary positions held by senior members of the Canadian Royal Family, whose role is also to show the connection of the Royal Family and the RCMP.

The current honorary deputy commissioners are Anne, Princess Royal, and Edward, Duke of Edinburgh.{{multiple image

| align = center

| total_width = 700

| perrow =

| image1 =Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip being greeted by the RCMP during her visit to Canada.jpg

| caption1 =Queen Elizabeth II greeting RCMP officers in Ottawa, October 1957

| image2 =Royal Visit Toronto 2010 5.JPG

| caption2 =Queen Elizabeth II with her RCMP Queen's Police Officer in Toronto, July 2010

| image3 =Royal Tour 2014 (14226454574).jpg

| caption3 =Prince Charles (now King Charles III) in Halifax, wearing an RCMP lapel pin, May 2014

}}

{{See also|Colonel (Canada)#Honorary ranks and appointments|label 1=Honorary Colonel}}

Honorary commissioner was a role in the RCMP which had been held by Canadian monarchs and heirs apparent. Since Charles III's appointment as commissioner-in-chief in April 2023 the role of honorary commissioner has not been in use.

{{Update section|date=August 2023|reason=Fleet data is from 2010, over 13 years ago.}}

File:RCMPfpiu1.jpg in Drumheller, Alberta.]]

File:Vancouver Airport - Royal Canadian Mounted Police (1).jpg and Ford Police Interceptor used by the RCMP, in front of the Vancouver International Airport]]

The RCMP Land Transport Fleet inventory includes:{{cite web |url=http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/land-terre/index-eng.htm |title=Land Transport |publisher=Rcmp-grc.gc.ca |date=November 14, 2006 |access-date=May 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620013431/http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/land-terre/index-eng.htm |archive-date=June 20, 2010 |df=mdy-all }}

{{Col div}}

• 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
• Tractors: 27
• Buses: 3
• Armoured Personnel Carriers: 2
• Total: 11,699

{{col div end}}

File:Olympic Shiprider DVIDS1094302.jpg, 2010]]

The RCMP policies 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 include enforcing Canada's environment, fisheries, customs, and immigration laws. In provinces and municipalities where the RCMP performs contract policing, the service polices freshwater lakes and rivers.

To meet these challenges, the RCMP operates the Marine Division, with five Robert Allan Ltd.–designed 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/mari/index-eng.htm |title=Marine Services |publisher=Rcmp-grc.gc.ca |access-date=May 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100622064451/http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/mari/index-eng.htm |archive-date=June 22, 2010 }} 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 {{convert|9.2|m|abbr=on}} 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.

File:Pilatus PC-12-45, Royal Canadian Mounted Police AN0147718.jpg used by the RCMP]]

File:Grc-avion.jpg helicopter]]

As of February 2023, the RCMP had 35 police aircraft (9 helicopters and 26 fixed-wing aircraft) registered with Transport Canada and operate as ICAO airline designator SST, and telephony STETSON.{{CanICAOD|Government Of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police|SST|STETSON|6|2023-02-26}} All aircraft are operated and maintained by the Air Services Branch.

File:RCMP S&W 5946.JPG]]

File:RCMP X26.jpg

• Smith & Wesson Model 5946 (1992–present) – Standard full-sized service sidearm. It is stainless-steel, double-action only, with a {{cvt|4|in}} barrel and a double-column 15-round magazine.
• Emergency response team (ERT) and dog handler members were issued modified Model 5946s with magazine safeties removed until they were replaced with the SIG Sauer P226R.
• Smith & Wesson Model 3953 (1996–present) – 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 {{cvt|3.5|in}} barrel, a shortened grip, and a single-column eight-round magazine.
• SIG Sauer 226R (9×19mm) – 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 the ERT
• Remington Model 700 (.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
• Colt Canada C8 IUR (integrated upper receiver) 5.56mm NATO. The semi-automatic C8 IUR was adopted for general use in October 2011,{{cite web|url=https://soldiersystems.net/2011/10/23/rcmp-adopts-c8-carbine/|title=RCMP Adopts C8 Carbine – Soldier Systems Daily|date=October 23, 2011 }} but the first batch were not procured until 2013.{{cite web|url=https://globalnews.ca/news/1898328/under-fire-the-carbine/|title=Under Fire: The carbine|website=Global News}} The first RCMP Cadets began qualifying on the C8 IUR and receiving Active Shooter training in 2015.{{cite web|url=https://globalnews.ca/news/2056473/exclusive-rcmp-cadets-to-receive-carbine-and-active-shooter-training-this-summer/|title= All RCMP cadets now receiving carbine and active shooter training | Globalnews.ca|date=June 15, 2015|website=globalnews.ca}}
• Taser International M26, X26, and X26P. Following the Robert Dziekański incident, all older M26 models and 60 faulty X26 models in stock were removed and destroyed in 2010 due to being outside of specifications.{{cite web|url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/hundreds-of-faulty-rcmp-tasers-destroyed-or-pulled-1.503499|title=Hundreds of faulty RCMP Tasers destroyed or pulled|date=April 18, 2010|website=CTVNews}}
• Oleoresin capsicum spray
• ASP and Monadnock expandable defensive batons

;Rifles

• Canadian Arsenals Limited (CAL) C1A1 – issued in 7.62mm NATO. Canadian variant of the FN FAL and L1A1 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.
• Lee–Enfield No. 4 Mk 1 – issued in .303 British. World War II surplus rifles were 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.{{cite web|url=https://calibremag.ca/the-guns-that-won-the-west-the-firearms-of-the-n-w-m-p/|title=The Guns That Won the West: Firearms of the N.W.M.P.|first=Richard Van|last=Leersum|date=January 1, 2014}}
• 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. 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. The NWMP demanded their contract carbines use a different set of iron sights (which later became standard on the Mk II) which delayed production for a further year. 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. 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. 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 were procured. Used from 1895 to 1914. Replaced by the Lee-Enfield carbine.
• Winchester Model 1876 saddle carbine{{snd}}issued 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.Petzal, David E. and Bourjaily, Phil, with Fenson, Brad. The Total Gun Manual (Canadian edition) (San Francisco: WeldonOwen, 2014) Note 44. and replaced by the Lee-Enfield Carbine.
• Snider–Enfield 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 pistols

• Smith & Wesson military and police revolver{{snd}}issued with {{convert|5|in|mm|abbr=on}} barrel, in .38 Special. It served more than forty years from 1954 to 1996. Plainclothes members carried a variant with a {{convert|4|in|mm|abbr=on}} barrel.
• In 1981, the standard loading was changed from a {{convert|158|gr|oz g|abbr=on}} .38 Special full metal jacket (FMJ) ball round to a {{convert|158|gr|oz g|abbr=on}} .38 Special +P semi-wadCutter hollow-point (SWCHP), a violation of the Hague Convention of 1899 if used in a military context.
• Colt New Service revolver – 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 3,200 were issued.Petzal and Bourjaily with Fenson. The Total Gun Manual (Canadian edition), Note 44 455 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 9×19mm Parabellum post World War II. Used from 1904 to 1954.
• Enfield Mark II revolver{{snd}}issued in .476 Enfield, about 1080 Mark IIs obtained from Britain's Ministry of Defence, after it was learned the Beaumont–Adams had been discontinued.Petzal and Bourjaily with Fenson, The Total Gun Manual (Canadian edition), Note 45 The remaining .450 Adams ammunition, which was compatible with the .476 Enfield round, was issued until stocks were depleted. Used from 1882 to 1911.
• Beaumont–Adams revolver{{snd}}first issue weapon, in .450 Adams. 330 Mark Icas was 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. The constables sometimes had to manually turn the cylinders due to cracked feed hands or keep both hands on the grips for the springs to work due to loose screws.{{cite web|url=https://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/the-455-colt-new-service-and-the-rcmp/248811|title=The .455 Colt New Service and the RCMP|date=December 6, 2016|website=Guns and Ammo}} Later, these were to be replaced by 330 Enfield Mark IIs,Petzal and Bourjaily, Phil, with Fenson. The Total Gun Manual (Canadian edition), Note 44 but many were stolen en route. Used from 1874 to 1888.

File:Weapons of the Mounties - Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Depot Division, Regina (42253403760).jpg on display at the RCMP Heritage Centre.]]

;Pistols

Due to procurement problems with the Beaumont–Adams revolvers, constables sometimes carried their sidearms chambered in a standard service calibre.

• 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{{quantify|date=January 2025}} powerful cartridge{{according to|date=January 2025}} in its day{{when|date=January 2025}}. Thirty were purchased in 1874 by the NWMP to field-test the .44 Russian round for service. Its non-standard chambering and the difficulty of getting ammunition for it led to its being withdrawn.
• Webley & Scott Bull Dog revolverPhillips, Roger F., & Klancher, Donald J. Arms & {{sic}} Accoutrements of the Mounted Police 1873–1973 (Bloomfield, ON: Museum Restoration Service, 1982), p. 24. – chambered in .450 Adams. Its small size made it a handy{{explain|date=January 2025}} 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 sabre – 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. Presently not used.

• 1912 pattern cavalry officer's sword carried by officers. The blade is acid etched on 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 flourishes 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 several commemorative swords to celebrate the RCMP centennial. None of these swords was ever used ceremonially and were strictly collectables. Wilkinson Sword also made a commemorative centennial tomahawk and miniature "letter opener" models of their centennial swords. During the same year, Winchester Repeating Arms Company produced an RCMP commemorative centennial version of their Model 94 rifle in .30-30 Winchester, with a {{convert|22|in|mm|abbr=on}} 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 {{convert|2000|yd|m|abbr=on}}. Two versions were produced, 9500 with serial numbers beginning "RCMP" for commercial sale, and 5000 with the prefix "MP" sold only to serving RCMP members. In addition, ten presentation models were produced, serially RCMP1P to RCMP10P.Petzal and Bourjaily with Fenson. The Total Gun Manual (Canadian edition), Note 45

File:United Way pancake breakfast - Chilliwack-38 (29639300705).jpg

RCMP officers on frontline police duties wear grey shirts with RCMP shoulder flashes, navy blue pants with gold trouser piping, bulletproof vests, and a peaked cap with a solid gold band. High-ranking officers wear white shirts. A tie can be worn with a long-sleeved shirt for occasions such as testifying in court. In colder weather, members may wear heavier boots, winter coats, wool toques, or uniquely, muskrat fur caps.{{cite news|url=https://rejinces.net/2014/10/14/rcmp-and-the-muskrat-hat/|title=RCMP and the Muskrat Hat|publisher=REJINCES|access-date=August 12, 2022}}

In 1990, Baltej Singh Dhillon became the RCMP's first Sikh officer to be allowed to wear a turban instead of the traditional campaign hat.{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/1990-sikh-mounties-permitted-to-wear-turbans|title=1990: Sikh Mounties permitted to wear turbans|publisher=CBC Archives|access-date=3 February 2017}} During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sikh, Muslim, and other bearded officers were initially assigned to administrative duties before being permitted to attend calls for service with low viral transmission risks after officer outcry.{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/rcmp-reverses-mask-policy-1.5746450|title=RCMP reverses mask policy for bearded officers|publisher=CBC News|access-date=August 12, 2022}} The beards required as part of the Sikh practice of kesh and worn by some Muslim men prevented respirator masks from properly sealing around the mouth and nose, reducing their effectiveness.{{cite news|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/religious-beards_n_5947438|title=Religious Beards: From Sikhs To Jews These Are Some Facial Hair Styles Of The Faithful|publisher=Huffington Post|access-date=August 12, 2022}} As of 2019, all RCMP officers, regardless of religious belief, are allowed to wear full beards or braided hair below their collar.{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-rcmp-uniform-change-1.5200558|title=With changes to dress code, RCMP letting its hair down|publisher=CBC News|access-date=July 22, 2022}} Officers may also wear a ballcap in place of the traditional peaked cap.

File:Міжнародне співробітництво IMG 0081 (51110939539).jpg

RCMP officers are equipped with a dress uniform, popularly known as the "blue serge", for performing certain formal duties, such as media relations or parliament testimony. It consists of a navy blue dress jacket with epaulets and brass buttons, a white shirt, a navy blue tie, navy blue pants with gold trouser piping, and a peaked cap with a solid gold band.{{cite news|url=https://www.rcmpolice.ca/dressregs.html|title=RCMP Dress Regulations|publisher=RCMPolice.ca (unofficial blog)|access-date=August 12, 2022}} Shoulder flashes are not worn.

{{further|Red Serge}}

File:RCMP March (7612737452).jpg

For most formal and ceremonial duties, RCMP wears the internationally-famous Red Serge.{{cite news|url=https://www.insider.com/how-canada-mountie-uniforms-are-made-2020-3|title=This is how Canada's iconic Mountie uniforms are made|publisher=Insider|access-date=August 12, 2022}} It has a high collared scarlet tunic, which was developed by the North-West Mounted Police and colored red to distinguish it from blue American military uniforms, midnight blue breeches with yellow trouser piping, an oxblood Sam Browne belt with white sidearm lanyard and matching oxblood riding boots, brown felt campaign hat with a "Montana crease" (pinched symmetrically at the four corners), and oxblood gloves. Since 1990, identical ceremonial uniforms have been worn by both men and women.Bonny Reilly Schmidt, 2013, "Women in Red Serge: Female Police Bodies and the Disruption to the Image of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police" unpublished PhD thesis, History Department, Simon Fraser University, p. 149

Members receive a clasp and service badge star for every five years of service. The King of Canada also awards the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Long Service Medal to members who have completed 20 years of service. A clasp is awarded for each successive 5 years to 40 years. Members also receive a service badge star for each five years of service, which is worn on the left sleeve. There are specialist insignia for positions such as first aid instructor and dog handler, a fingerprint insignia for forensic identification specialists, and pilot's wings worn by aviators. Sharpshooter badges for proficiency in pistol or rifle shooting are each awarded in two grades.{{cite web|url=http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/unif/badge-insigne-eng.htm|title=Badges and Insignia|publisher=Royal Canadian Mounted Police|access-date=3 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013215827/http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/unif/badge-insigne-eng.htm|archive-date=October 13, 2016}} Sharpshooter badges and service badge stars are sewn onto the left sleeve of the red serge.

File:RCMP Tartan.png

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 an RCMP pipe band at the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo in July and August 1998.{{cite web |url=http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/tartan |title=Tartan |date=April 19, 2018 |publisher=Royal Canadian Mounted Police |access-date=December 7, 2019}}

{{Infobox military unit

| unit_name = {{ubl|Royal Canadian Mounted Police|{{lang|fr|Gendarmerie royale du Canada}}}}

| image = Guidon Royal Canadian Mounted Police.JPG

| image_size = 150px

| caption = 1973–2023 guidon of the RCMP

| dates = 1873–present

| country = Canada

| allegiance =

| branch =

| type = Dragoons

| role =

| size =

| command_structure =

| commander1 = King Charles III

| commander1_label = Commissioner-in-chief

| garrison =

| ceremonial_chief_label = Commissioner

| ceremonial_chief = Michael Duheme

| colonel_of_the_regiment =

| colonel_of_the_regiment_label = Honorary commissioner

| commander4 = The Duke of Edinburgh{{cite web|url=http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/united_kingdom-royaume_uni/media/media_2009_05_03.aspx?lang=eng|title=All The Queen's Horses: fourth RCMP steed crosses Atlantic to join Royal Mews|access-date=January 3, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927061509/http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/united_kingdom-royaume_uni/media/media_2009_05_03.aspx?lang=eng|archive-date=September 27, 2012}}
The Princess Royal{{citation| url=https://gatewaygazette.ca/royal-highness-princess-royal-becomes-honorary-rcmp-deputy-commissioner/| title=Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal Becomes Honorary RCMP Deputy Commissioner| date=November 12, 2014| publisher=Gateway Gazette| access-date=26 May 2021}}

| commander4_label = Honorary deputy commissioners

| nickname =

| patron =

| motto =

| colors =

| identification_symbol_2 = [http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb309/hammersfan_01/Tartans/RCMP.gif RCMP]

| identification_symbol_2_label = Tartan

| identification_symbol =

| identification_symbol_label = Shoulder flash

| identification_symbol_4 = RCMP/GRC

| identification_symbol_4_label = Abbreviation

| march =

| mascot =

| battles =

| notable_commanders =

| anniversaries =

| decorations =

| battle_honours = see Battle honours

}}

Although the RCMP is a civilian police service, in 1921, following the service of many of its members during the First World War, King George V awarded the service the status of a regiment of dragoons, entitling it to display the battle honours it had been awarded.

The RCMP predecessor, the North-West Mounted Police, were involved in several battles during the North-West Resistance in 1885.{{cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/north-west-rebellion|title=North-West Resistance|publisher=Historica Canada|access-date=26 December 2024|date=8 July 2021|website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca}} During the Second Boer War, members of the NWMP were given leaves of absence to join the 2nd Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles (CMR) and Strathcona's Horse. The service 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 service 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.

File:The ANP and 293rd MP's Hold District 7 DVIDS278069.jpg unit in Afghanistan, with an RCMP element embedded with them (centre foreground), 2010.]]

RCMP members were embedded with several military units in Afghanistan during the War in Afghanistan from 2001–14. The RCMP was a member agency of the Afghan Threat Finance Cell, a multi-agency intelligence organization formed in 2008.

{{cite news

|url=http://www.ketknbc.com/news/dea-afghanistan-unit-receives-prestigious-joint-chiefs-of-staff-award

|title=DEA Afghanistan Unit Receives Prestigious Joint Chiefs of Staff Award

|publisher=KETK NBC

|date=February 8, 2012

|quote=The ATFC began operations in mid-2009 and is a multi-agency organization led by the 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.

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515174304/http://www.ketknbc.com/news/dea-afghanistan-unit-receives-prestigious-joint-chiefs-of-staff-award

|archive-date=May 15, 2013

|access-date=January 19, 2017

|df=mdy

}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.regiments.org/regiments/na-canada/cav/RCMP.htm#colours|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013163025/http://www.regiments.org/regiments/na-canada/cav/RCMP.htm#colours|title=Royal Canadian Mounted Police|archive-date=October 13, 2007}}{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/ottawa_heraldry/heraldist1.html|title=heraldist1|date=August 1, 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010801174646/http://www.geocities.com/ottawa_heraldry/heraldist1.html|archive-date=August 1, 2001}} The second guidon was presented in 1973, and the third in 2023.{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Royal Canadian Mounted Police |date=2023-09-05 |title=Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan presents RCMP with new Guidon {{!}} Royal Canadian Mounted Police |url=https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/news/2023/lieutenant-governor-rcmp-new-guidon |access-date=2023-10-26 |website=www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca}}

Battle honours

{{col div}}

• North West Canada 1885
• South Africa 1900–1902
• France & Flanders 1918
• Siberia 1918–19
• Second World War 1939–1945 {{lang|fr|Seconde Guerre mondiale}}
• Afghanistan 2003–14{{cite web|url=https://www.gg.ca/en/heraldry/public-register/project/3220|date=May 15, 2020|title=Governor General of Canada}}

{{col div end}}

The RCMP also carries the honorary distinctions for 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. The honorary distinction was recognized on the guidon presented in 2023 with its inclusion among other RCMP battle honors.

{{further|North-West Mounted Police in popular media}}

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. The RCMP's motto is the French phrase, {{lang|fr|Maintiens le droit}}, variously translated into English as "Defending the Law", "Maintain the right", and "Uphold the right". The Hollywood saying that they 'always get their man' derives ultimately from the words "They fetch their man every time" occurring in a report made at Fort Benton regarding an incident at Fort Macleod in 1877, when two Mounties, notwithstanding the loss of their horses, managed to capture three whisky smugglers.Polly Horvath, [https://books.google.com/books?id=MU-7BgAAQBAJ&dq=Mounties+always+get+their+man+who+said&pg=PT5 M Is for Mountie: A Royal Canadian Mounted Police Alphabet,] Sleeping Bear Press 2013 {{isbn|978-1-627-53149-8}} p.1.

File:Grc-port.jpg

In recent decades, Canadian public perception of the RCMP has become less favourable. In 2022 Angus Reid survey found that 41 per cent of Canadians had little or no confidence in the RCMP, compared to 37 per cent of Canadians served by a provincial police service.{{cite web|url=https://angusreid.org/canadians-expectations-post-pandemic-support-for-the-poor-environmental-protection-gain-in-importance/|title=Canadians' expectations post-pandemic; support for the poor, environmental protection, gain in importance|website=Angus Reid Foundation|date=June 9, 2022 }} The study also found that the RCMP as a whole was less trusted compared to municipal police services or individual RCMP detachments.

During the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, several witnesses described apathy or disrespect on the part of officers taking statements about violence against Indigenous women, while others said that some officers declined to take statements altogether."I'm a lawyer. I'm educated. I speak to huge conferences of people about child protection, about Gladue, about prisoners' rights, about Aboriginal offenders, about the structural racism and systemic racism that our people have suffered, and the laws, and policies, and practices that have impacted our people over multiple generations... And, I couldn't even get an RCMP officer to listen to me with any dignity and pride. And, I understood even more profoundly the racism that my mother experienced throughout her life, from the '50s to now, to today."{{cite web|url=https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Final_Report_Vol_1a-1.pdf|title=Reclaiming Power and Place: Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, volume 1A|page=222}}

In 1912, Ralph Connor's Corporal Cameron of the North-West Mounted Police: A Tale of the MacLeod Trail appeared, and became 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.

File:Renfrew-1937-Lobby-Card.jpg for Renfrew of the Royal Mounted, a 1937 film that depicts a Mountie as its protagonist]]

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 was a series of Renfrew of the Royal Mounted boy's adventure novels written by Laurie York Erskine beginning in 1922 and 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 (1901–1953), a former Mounted Police corporal (1919–1923), served as an unofficial technical advisor to Hollywood in many films with RCMP characters.Barr, William Red Serge and Polar Bear Pants" The Biography of Harry Stallworthy, RCMP University of Alberta Press 2004 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).

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.

File:Lumberjack Song O2 Arena.jpg" in the Monty Python Live (Mostly) show at O2 Arena in London, 2014.]]

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 1972–90 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 service. 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. British comedian Tony Slattery appeared as 'Malcolm the Mountie' in a series of UK TV adverts for Labatt's in the early 1990s. 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 1994–98 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 services. Fraser is depicted as honest and polite to a fault, even refusing to carry a loaded sidearm when "assisting" Detective Vecchio but is almost superhuman in his abilities for thwarting crime, especially while wearing the Red Serge uniform. 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.–Canada 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 Canada–United 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.tidespoint.com/music/afrankwillis.shtml|title=Newfoundland music books food videos images arts crafts|access-date=October 25, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120918111453/http://www.tidespoint.com/music/afrankwillis.shtml|archive-date=September 18, 2012|df=mdy-all}} Conan O'Brien brought his late night show to Toronto in February 2004. O'Brien spent a day as a Mountie at the Canada–United States border.

In 2009, a 13-part documentary about the RCMP released, Courage in Red, was released. 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—two main characters are Sergeant Michelle McClusky and Corporal Dev Clark.

In the 2021 TV series Leverage Redemption it is revealed characters Elliot Spencer, Sophie Devereaux, Parker, and Breanna Casey will not do jobs in Canada because of the RCMP, who want them for various crimes. The four claim the RCMP is the most dangerous police service in the world, will put you down politely and never forget a face, and that Mounties hate being called "Dudley Do-Right."

There are products and merchandise that are made in the image of the RCMP, like Mountie statues or hats. Before 1995, the RCMP had little control over these products. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police received an international license on April 1, 1995, requiring those who use the RCMP to pay a licensing fee. Proceeds from the fees are used for community awareness programs.{{cite news|last=Farnsworth |first=Clyde H. |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEEDE133CF937A35751C0A963958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |title=For the Mounties, Justice Is Now a Licensing Fee |newspaper=New York Times |date=February 4, 1995 |access-date=May 22, 2010}} 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.Royal Canadian Mounted Police, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20071023111746/http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Royal_Canadian_Mounted_Police]", Retrieved July 28, 2011 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,CBC Digital Archives "[http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/society/crime-justice/mounties-on-duty-a-history-of-the-rcmp/disney-scores-right-to-market-mountie-products.html]", retrieved July 28, 2011. 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".

File:RCMP Musical Ride (2016).jpg performance in Essex, Ontario, 2016]]

RCMP community relationship-building programs include the Musical Ride. The Musical Ride is an equestrian showcase of RCMP riders, that performs across Canada each year from May to October.{{cite web|url=https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/even/en/t/2/e|title=Musical Ride tour schedule|publisher=Royal Canadian Mounted Police|website=www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca|date=30 December 2022|access-date=30 December 2022}} The RCMP Sunset Ceremony ({{Langx|fr|Cérémonie du crépuscule}}) has taken place every summer since 1989 at the Musical Ride Centre in Ottawa,{{cite news |url=https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/the-royal-canadian-mounted-police-presents-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-canadian-sunset-ceremonies-june-27-30-857655750.html |title=The Royal Canadian Mounted Police presents the 30th anniversary of the Canadian Sunset Ceremonies, June 27–30 |date=June 26, 2019 |publisher=CNW Group Ltd. |access-date=December 6, 2019}}{{cite web |url=https://www.ottawatourism.ca/ottawa-insider/rcmp-musical-ride-sunset-ceremonies/ |title=RCMP Musical Ride Sunset Ceremonies |work=Ottawa Tourism |publisher=Ottawa Tourism and Convention Authority |access-date=December 6, 2019}} with it in recent years featuring the Ottawa Police Service Pipe Band and the Governor General's Foot Guards Band.{{cite web |url=https://www.todocanada.ca/city/ottawa/event/rcmps-canadian-sunset-ceremonies/ |title=RCMP's Canadian Sunset Ceremonies |website=todoCanada.ca|access-date=December 6, 2019}}{{cite web |title=RCMP Heritage Centre – Sunset Retreat Ceremonies |url=https://rcmphc.com/en/sunset-retreat-ceremonies-2 |website=rcmphc.com}} The RCMP National Ceremonial Troop is a unit that serves as dismounted version of the Musical Ride as well as a drill team. Individual divisions also have their ceremonial troops.

File:RCMP Heritage Centre.jpg]]

The RCMP Heritage Centre is a multi-million-dollar museum designed by Arthur Erickson that opened in 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 service in Canada's history.

File:GRC 3029+.jpg

There are eight regional RCMP pipe bands across Canada that act as "garrison bands" for the provincial division, and attend parades, police ceremonies, and public events.{{cite web |title=Pipes, Drums and Dancers: Nova Scotia |url=https://www.rcmppipeband.ca/ |access-date=December 7, 2019}} The first of these bands were established in 1992 in Alberta.{{cite web |title=RCMP Community Bands of Pipes and Drums |url=http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/pd-ct/index-eng.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827022204/http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/pd-ct/index-eng.htm |archive-date=August 27, 2017 |access-date=December 7, 2019 |publisher=RCMP}} The following are the locations of the regional volunteer pipe bands:

{{col div}}

• Halifax
• Moncton
• Montreal (part of "C" Division)
• Ottawa
• Winnipeg
• Regina (part of "F" Division){{cite web |url=http://rcmpregina.tripod.com/id12.html |title=Band Information: A Community Partnership |publisher=RCMP Regina Pipes and Drums|access-date=December 7, 2019}}
• Edmonton
• Vancouver (part of "E" Division){{cite web |url=http://www.rcmppipeband.com/history_bc.htm |title=History – "E" Division |publisher=RCMP "E" Division Pipe Band (British Columbia)|access-date=December 7, 2019}}

{{Col div end}}

Before 1994, the RCMP also operated the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Band ({{Langx|fr|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.{{cite web |date=26 April 2014 |title=History |url=https://rcmpband.ca/history/ |website=RCMP Band}}{{cite web |title=The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Band |url=https://militarymusic.com/blogs/military-music/13516489-the-royal-canadian-mounted-police-band |website=Altissimo!}} 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 various police bands in the RCMP flourished at the time, leading the Canadian government approving the creation of a full-time central band in December 1958, with its headquarters in the capital of Ottawa.{{cite web |last1=Luscombe |first1=Stephen |title=Royal Canadian Mounted Police |url=https://www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/armyunits/canadiancavalry/rcmpbands.htm |website=www.britishempire.co.uk}} 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.

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 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.{{cite web |title=Ontario – Ottawa – Miscellaneous Obituaries |url=http://canadianobits.com/ontario/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/427 |website=canadianobits.com}}

• Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
• List of Canadian organizations with royal patronage
• List of controversies involving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
• Police brutality against Indigenous Canadians
• Canadian genocide of Indigenous peoples
• List of Royal Canadian Mint RCMP coins
• RCMP harassment policy

{{Reflist|group=note}}

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• {{Official website}}
• [https://archives-manuscripts.dartmouth.edu/repositories/2/resources/1025 Royal Canadian Mounted Police Reports 1929–1948] at Dartmouth College Library

{{Law enforcement agencies in Canada}}

{{Government agencies of Canada}}

{{Canadian Newsmaker of the Year}}

{{Police}}

{{List of official Canadian national symbols}}

{{Subject bar |portal= |commons=yes |commons-search=Category:Royal Canadian Mounted Police |species= |species-search= |n=yes |n-search=Category:RCMP |wikt= |wikt-search= |b= |b-search= |q= |q-search= |s=yes |v= |v-search= |voy= |voy-search= |d=yes |d-search=Q335175|Canada|Law}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Coord|45.42|-75.66|type:landmark_region:CA|display=title}}

Category:Federal departments and agencies of Canada

Category:Public Safety Canada

Category:Gendarmerie

Category:Government agencies established in 1920

Category:Legal history of Canada

Category:1920 establishments in Canada

Category:Organizations based in Canada with royal patronage

Category:Organizations based in Ottawa

Category:Uniformed services of Canada

Category:Federal law enforcement agencies of Canada

Category:Nunavut law

Category:Northwest Territories law

Category:Yukon law

Category:National symbols of Canada

Canada

Category:Mounted police