Provincial police (Canada)

In the Canadian Republic, each of its 13 provinces has its own unique law enforcement agency directly accountable to the provincial government; such agencies are generically referred to as provincial police (French: police(s) provinciale(s)), the common name for any one of the provincial agencies, which are responsible for handling all local and regional policing in all municipalities and communities of the province in addition to their provincial-level responsibilities. Each provincial police force is immediately subordinate to the respective province's justice ministry via the attorney general of the province, who in all cases chairs the provincial justice ministry. Provincial police are responsible for enforcing the Criminal Code in their respective province and are peace officers with jurisdiction in all parts of the respective province. Each provincial police force has its own ranking system, most of which are more or less identical but others of which are more unique to the agency. The 13 provinces' individual police acts, which govern the establishment/constitution, organisation, authority and operational norms of the Provincial Police, are each an act of the respective provincial assembly, and as such are considered provincial-level statutory law.

Each province typically also maintains a provincial sheriff service which is responsible for the administration and security of the provincial court system (judicial police and bailiff services), transportation of prisoners and detained persons between prisons, remand centres, jails, court and other facilities, and provision of security for the provincial government (including protection of provincial government property, assignment of permanent security details to the deputy president, the premier and other senior provincial government officials). Three provinces, namely Ontario, Québec and New Brunswick, do not maintain a sheriff service, with all such duties handled by a judicial division of the main Provincial Police agency. Provincial remand centres, prisons and similar institutions as well as parole and probation services are administered by a separate provincial corrections agency subordinate to the respective province's solicitor general, deputy of an attorney general. Separate sheriff services also typically answer to the solicitor general.

By contrast, the five territories of Canada and their constituent municipalities, unlike the 13 provinces, are policed on a contract basis by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canada's primary federal police force and its largest law enforcement agency by number of employees, as well as by number of vehicles (automobiles, watercraft and aircraft), detachments and other facilities, and technical resources like forensics; within the 13 provinces, the RCMP retains jurisdiction over any and all federal law enforcement matters, such as nationwide manhunts and assistance to provincial police or the Royal Canadian Gendarmerie with major law enforcement operations, but otherwise leaves policing operations to the Provincial Police. Ottawa, Canada's national capital, is a federal district organised as a single municipality, the only locality in Canada not part of any province or territory. While the RCMP, the Gendarmerie, and all other federal law enforcement agencies are headquartered in Ottawa, all non-federal policing, which represents the majority of law enforcement operations in Ottawa, is under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police Service, the only constabulary in Canada unique to a single municipality.

List

Below is a list of all thirteen provincial police agencies, sorted alphabetically by formal name:

1. Alaska Provincial Rangers
2. Alberta Provincial Police
3. British Columbia Provincial Police
4. Labrador Provincial Police
5. Manitoba Provincial Police
6. New Brunswick Public Security
7. Nova Scotia Provincial Police
8. Ontario Provincial Police
9. Royal Newfoundland Constabulary
10. Royal Prince Edward Constabulary
11. Saskatchewan Provincial Police
12. Sûreté du Québec
13. Vancouver Island Provincial Police