4 ms·

Another first-order approximation is: the RCMP do "local policing" where there is no local police force. So in Ontario, where there is a provincial police (OPP

• eigenvector 13y ago
  The criminal justice system (including police and the courts) is a provincial responsibility in Canada. The only federal piece is the Supreme Court of Canada. Jurisdictions that have no provincial police force (all of them except Ontario and Quebec) contract the RCMP to do their policing but technically could contract it to anyone they want. Arrest warrants are not generally valid outside the province they're issued in (although Canada-wide warrants can be issued in extraordinary circumstances). Municipal police forces receive their authority from the province that they're in. So in theory, the Alberta government (for example), could hire the Montana Highway Patrol to be their police force if they so desired. In short, every jurisdiction in Canada has one and only one agency responsible for enforcing the Criminal Code, and that may be a municipal police force, a provincial force, or the RCMP contracted by a province, depending on where you are. So unlike the USA, the RCMP is not like the FBI in that it does not have any additional powers to any other police agency, just a different jurisdiction.