Policing and public order issues in Canada: Trends for change1

Abstract

Little academic work has been published to date on the policing system of Canada despite its complex diversity and comparative interest as a contrast to that of the US. Even less has been written on the topic of Canadian public order policing. This article seeks to redress this by initially locating policing development in Canada within various ‘models’ of policing. It then focuses on public order policing change through major contemporary concerns, namely the nature and extent of provincial ‘contracting out’ of policing arrangements; current First Nations land‐claims and consequent disputes situated within a wider context of self‐governance and independent policing for Aboriginal peoples. Finally, it raises the problematic of a more legitimate, consensual and community‐based policing framework in a changing, increasingly fragmented and multi‐cultural society. The article concludes by identifying two distinct but opposed trends for change in policing in Canada, namely on the one hand towards the institution and practice of more multi‐agency, conciliatory, and consultative processes, but on the other hand an increasingly militarised and potentially overtly offensive and escalatory public order policing formula.