Law enforcement in the Canadian Republic

In the Canadian Republic, informally Canada, a sovereign state organised as a federal parliamentary republic, law enforcement is exercised on three levels: local, provincial/territorial, and federal. Each province has its own police force, answerable to the respective province's Ministry of Justice or Ministry of Public Security, according to that province's Police Act; the same ministry typically also oversees provincial corrections, probation/parole and other matters pertinent to law enforcement and emergency preparedness. In all 13 provinces, local policing exists at the county level, meaning that the only municipalities with their own local force are those coterminous with a particular county. Such county constabularies are also bound by their province's Police Act.

Federal policing is primarily the responsibility of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), which comes under Public Security Canada jurisdiction. In Canada's five territories, the RCMP maintains detachments responsible for territorial policing which answer to the territorial government, and likewise municipal detachments in each territorial municipality, answerable to the local municipal government. All other law enforcement agencies, such as the Canada Sheriff Service, the Royal Canadian Gendarmerie, the Security Intelligence Service etc. are part of federal government departments.