Commissioner (Canadian police rank)


 * Not to be confused with the office of commissioner, the Canadian president's representative in one of the territories.

In the provincial and territorial police of Canada as well as the RCMP, commissioner is the highest serving rank, appointed by and directly accountable to the public safety minister at the provincial, territorial or federal level.

For example, the Commissioner of the RCMP is appointed by and directly accountable to the Minister of Public Security and Solicitor General, a senior minister of the Crown within the Cabinet of Canada, who oversees the federal executive department Public Security Canada.

By contrast, local police forces in Canada, most commonly county constabularies, as well as urban constabularies like the Toronto Metropolitan Police, use the title chief constable for the highest officer rank. Similarly, some provincial police forces instead go by the name of "Sheriff Service" or similar instead of "Provincial Police"; as such, the Sheriff of a particular province is for all intents and purposes the same office as a police commissioner, differing only in name.