Summary
This essay intends to investigate four periods of Canadian development from 1864 to 1938. In each case intelligence became one of the primary functions of a national police force: 1864-1874, Frontier Police-Dominion Police; 1914-1919, Dominion Police-Royal North West Mounted Police; 1919, Royal North West Mounted Police; 1920-1938, Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The objective is to analyse the relationship between the threat to Canada and the attitude of the government as seen through the operations of the counteracting agencies, to determine if the defense measures were intelligence or counter- intelligence oriented. What is in question is how was intelligence used and what was the government's concept of 'national security'. Such an analysis will reveal the structural development of the agencies that eventually became a function of intelligence operations within the R.C.M.P., and the attitude of the political parties regarding intelligence use.