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List of law enforcement agencies in Canada

Vehicles belonging to all three types of law enforcement agency in Canada: a police service in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; a special constabulary in Toronto, Ontario; and a civil law enforcement agency in Calgary, Alberta.

Law enforcement in Canada is the responsibility of police services, special constabularies, and civil law enforcement agencies, which are operated by every level of government, some private and Crown corporations, and First Nations. Canada's provinces are responsible for the development and maintenance of police forces and special constabularies,[1] while civil law enforcement is the responsibility of the level or agency of government that developed those laws, and civil law enforcement agencies may be given a range of powers to enforce those laws.[2] As such, the exact duties and authority of individual law enforcement agencies vary significantly.

Police services may take on additional duties such as municipal by-law enforcement,[3][4] and police services range in size from small, one-officer forces that are generally limited to enforcing provincial and municipal legislation to large organizations charged with investigating complex financial crimes.[5][6] In Ontario, police services are obliged to provide at least five core police services — crime prevention, law enforcement, maintenance of the public peace, emergency response, and assistance to victims of crime — to fulfill the province's requirement for "adequate and effective policing,"[7] while in neighbouring Quebec, the responsibilities of a police force are dependent on the population it serves.[8] Other jurisdictions, such as Manitoba and British Columbia, do not define adequate and effective policing, although individual regulations in both of those provinces set out basic responsibilities of police forces.[9]

Although special constabularies exist in some form in almost every province, they are referred to by a number of different titles and carry different levels of authority between provinces and agencies. The Niagara Parks Police Service, for example, employs armed officers responsible for providing almost all police services on and in relation to lands owned by the Niagara Parks Commission;[10] while the University of Saskatchewan Protective Services Division's unarmed officers are limited to enforcing University by-laws, some provincial laws, and limited sections of the Criminal Code.[11] The exact definition of a special constabulary also varies province-to-province, and some civil law enforcement agencies, usually those whose staff are designated as special constables, are also sometimes considered special constabularies.[12] Generally, a special constabulary is any law enforcement organization composed of special constables, peace officers, or safety officers (as opposed to police officers) with a mandate for criminal law enforcement and/or general peacekeeping and security.

The powers of civil law enforcement agencies also vary significantly. Some, like the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol, have the authority to enforce criminal legislation in addition to their primary mandate to enforce civil legislation,[13] while others are limited to enforcing only a handful of by-laws or provincial acts. Regardless of the breadth of their legislative authority, all civil law enforcement officers in Canada are considered peace officers for the purposes of carrying out their duties,[14][15][16] and may be variously appointed as special constables,[12] municipal law enforcement officers,[17] provincial offences officers,[18] or generically as peace officers.[19]

For the purposes of this list, agencies are grouped by their primary responsibilities and legislative definitions.

  1. ^ "Police in Canada". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
  2. ^ "Appointment of Officers and designation as provincial offences officers". Toronto Region Conservation Authority. 2020-10-02. Retrieved 2022-07-05.
  3. ^ "Regulations and Procedures Manual" (PDF). Vancouver Police Department. Retrieved 2022-07-10.
  4. ^ "Parking Enforcement". Toronto Police Service. Retrieved 2022-07-10.
  5. ^ "Protective Services". Rural Municipality of Cornwallis.
  6. ^ "Ontario's 'Crypto King' arrested after Durham police's largest fraud investigation ever". CBC News.
  7. ^ "Ontario Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019". CanLII.
  8. ^ "Quebec Police Act". LegisQuebec.
  9. ^ "2020 Independent Review of the Manitoba Police Services Act, 2009" (PDF). Community Safety Knowledge Alliance.
  10. ^ "Niagara Parks Police". NiagaraParks.com. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  11. ^ "Protective Services". University of Saskatchewan. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
  12. ^ a b "Comment: B.C. must not forget our special provincial constables". Times Colonist. 2022-05-03. Retrieved 2022-07-03.
  13. ^ "6 new officers finish training, ready to start with Sask. Highway Patrol". Global News. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
  14. ^ Moore v R [1975] 5 W.W.R. 176.
  15. ^ R. vs Jones [1975] 5 W.W.R. 197.
  16. ^ "Police Services Act R.S.O. 1990, c. P.15, s. 15 (2)".
  17. ^ "Police Services Act R.S.O. 1990, c. P.15, s. 15 (1)".
  18. ^ "Designation of Provincial Offences Officer" (PDF). Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit.
  19. ^ "Roles and Duties - PBLE Peace Officer". Prairie Bylaw Enforcement. Retrieved 2024-01-17.

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