Dominion Police
The Dominion Police, although the federal police of Canada, was mainly active in the Eastern Canada region, while the Royal Northwest Mounted Police handled the expansive and sparsely populated Northwest Territories of Western Canada. In May 1918, the 969-member Dominion Police was reassigned under the Department of Militia and Defence and became a civilian wing of the Canadian Military Police Corps (CMPC). In the early 1900s, the Royal Northwest Mounted Police had declined as the Northwest Territories was divided into new provinces and territories, and due to the general unpopularity of the force for conduct during industrial disputes such as the Winnipeg General Strike. On 1 February 1920, the civilian members of the CMPC, including the Dominion Police, were merged with the Royal Northwest Mounted Police to form the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as the new federal police force of Canada, and the CMPC was disbanded on 1 December 1920.
North-West Mounted Police
Sir John Macdonald acquired approval for his new force on May 23, 1873, after Parliament, following a cursory debate, passed the Mounted Police Act into law unopposed. At this point, Macdonald appears to have intended to create a force of mounted police to watch "the frontier from Manitoba to the foot of the Rocky Mountains", probably with its headquarters in Winnipeg. He was heavily influenced by the model of the Royal Irish Constabulary, which combined aspects of a traditional military unit with the judicial functions of the magistrates' courts, and believed that the new force should be able to provide a local system of government in otherwise ungoverned areas. Originally, Macdonald also had wanted to form units of Métis policemen, commanded by white Canadian officers in a similar manner to the British Indian Army, but he was forced to abandon this approach after the Métis revolt of 1870 called their loyalty into question.