Department of Justice

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Yukon Police Services

The Public Safety and Investigations branch is responsible for managing the Territorial Police Service Agreement.  The Territorial Police Service Agreement (TPSA) is a twenty year Agreement (1992-2012) between Canada and Yukon which provides for the RCMP to act as the Territory’s police force.  The Agreement was signed by the Solicitor General of Canada, the Yukon Minister of Justice and Territorial Commissioner in 1991.   

Under the Constitution Act, 1982, the provinces and territories have authority to legislate with respect to "the administration of Justice".  This has been interpreted to include law enforcement.  The RCMP provides community policing services in all provinces and territories except Quebec and Ontario, which maintain their own provincial police services: the Sûreté du Québec and the Ontario Provincial Police, respectively.

The territorial Minister of Justice has certain powers under the TPSA.  They are limited and include:

  • the setting of objectives, priorities and goals (Article 3.3);
  • providing direction to the Commanding Officer in aiding the administration of justice in the province (Article 4.1);
  • receiving information on the operational and administrative status of the Provincial Police Service (Article 4.2(b));
  • receiving information that comes to the attention of any member employed by the RCMP in the province that may affect the administration of justice in the province (Article 4.2(d));
  • receiving information on new and outstanding complaints made by the public against the Provincial Police Service (Article 4.2(e));
  • consulting with the Commissioner on the appointment of a Commanding Officer or a Criminal Operations Officer (Article 4.3);
  • agreeing to the number and location of detachments and to any changes to the organizational structure of the Provincial Police Service. (Article 7.1(a));
  • consulting on the location of the Divisional Headquarters (Article 7.1(b)).

The PSI branch works closely with the RCMP to ensure that the Minister’s policing priorities are responded to. 

The PSI branch also collaborates with the RCMP and community groups to address concerns related to public and community safety.

Current Territorial Police Service Agreement