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
Meanwhile, Commissioner Perry had put forward three options for the future of the mounted police: the force could be absorbed into the Canadian military; the remit of the force could be reduced to simply policing the far north; or the force could be assigned a much wider role in public and secret policing across the whole of Canada. Perry promoted the third option and Arthur Meighen, the acting Minister for Justice, therefore proposed merging the mounted police and the Dominion Police, placing them under Perry's command. This idea was turned down by Borden, who believed, incorrectly, that the merger would be unacceptable to Perry, whom he thought still wanted a military future for the force.