Dominion Police
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The Dominion Police was the federal police force of Canada from 1867 until its dissolution in 1920 with the formation of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
The authority to create a Dominion Police force was established by "An Act respecting Police of Canada", assented to on 22 May 1868 (31 Vic., Cap. 73). In 1919 the Dominion Police was absorbed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), under the authority of "An Act to amend the Royal North West Mounted Police Act" (10 George V., Cap. 28).
The mandate of the Dominion Police, which was not specifically defined in the legislation, evolved over the course of its existence. Initially, the force consisted of fewer than a dozen men, whose principal duty was to protect federal government buildings in Ottawa. Under the leadership of Commissioner Gilbert McMicken (appointed in December 1869), the Dominion Police also began to undertake security and intelligence work in the early years. (In response to the Fenian movement in the United States, McMicken had established an undercover security force in Upper Canada in the years prior to Confederation, which he continued as Commissioner of the Dominion Police)
With the appointment of Percy Sherwood as Commissioner in 1885, the size of the force and the scope of its activities began to expand. In 1880 the force consisted of approximately 20 officers. By the time Sherwood retired in December 1919, the Dominion Police had assumed a variety of duties, including the protection of Navy yards at Halifax and Esquimalt, the enforcement of laws regarding counterfeiting and other specific crimes, the maintenance of a fingerprinting bureau, and the operation of a paroled prisoners branch. During the First World War the Dominion Police worked with other law enforcement agencies in the supervision and regulation of `enemy aliens' and the gathering of intelligence information regarding possible acts of sabotage. When the Dominion Police were disbanded in 1920, 152 officers from the force were accepted for service by the RCMP.
The Dominion Police reported to the Minister of Justice. In 1913, the Commissioner of the Dominion Police, Sir Percy Sherwood, became the Chief Commissioner of Police in Canada, and other police commissioners in Eastern Canada, principally those in the less settled districts, were subordinated to him, and reported to Ottawa through him.
From: Dominion Police Fonds-Administrative History. Library and Archives Canada. http://mikan3.archives.ca/pam/public_mikan/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=34&rec_nbr_list=34,1407402,1356321,1356123,1354894,1354104,1345213,1343122,1340594,1321639
