Provincial police

In the Canadian Republic, all twelve provinces have a provincial police (French: police provinciale), the law enforcement agency which answers to the provincial government and provides policing at the provincial level, as well as often contracting with smaller counties and municipalities within the respective province to maintain a municipal detachment in lieu of a municipal or county constabulary. All provinces also have a sheriff service, which despite mostly concerning itself with judicial policing and the transportation of prisoners, is nevertheless also often considered a provincial police (depending on the province) due to most sheriff services' additional public law enforcement powers. For example, while the British Columbia Provincial Police (BCPP) is considered the main provincial police of the province of British Columbia (BC), the British Columbia Sheriff Service (BCSS), in addition to its judicial and corrections responsibilities, has many specialist areas of public law enforcement and as such is also considered a provincial police force.

By contrast, the four territories of Canada do not have their own police forces; they instead contract with the federal/national Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to provide policing for the territory. Similarly, all territories' constituent municipalities contract with the RCMP to maintain a municipal detachment responsible for policing at the local (municipal) level, as does the federal capital city of Ottawa, which is a single incorporated municipality not part of any province or territory. Nevertheless, the RCMP maintains jurisdiction in all parts of Canada concerning law enforcement at the federal level.