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
The first appearance of the mounted police in fiction occurred in Joseph Collin's "The Story of Louis Riel", published in 1885. The police soon became a popular subject for writers, with over 150 novels about the force and its successor, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, being published between 1890 and 1940 across North America and Britain, along with magazine articles and publications for children. Gilbert Parker, James Curwood and Ralph Connor's works proved particularly popular and influential. Connor's "Corporal Cameron", published in 1912, set the tone for many later books with a tale of its initially dissolute protagonist's redemption through service with the police. Numerous poems were written about the force, with the best known probably being the "Riders of the Plains", which was first published in 1878 and later expanded upon several times.