The Origins of Political Policing in Canada: Class, Law, and the Burden of Empire

This essay examines the origins of the Canadian secret service from the 1860s to the Great War. During this time, the Canadian government faced political challenges from Irish republicans and South Asian radicals. Both groups sought to liberate their home countries-Ireland and India-from British rule by promoting the idea of independence and the necessity of militant tactics amongst their respective immigrant communities in North America. Faced with this subversive activity, which had both domestic and international implications, the government created a secret service to gather political intelligence. Significantly, the government\u27s political response was shaped decisively by its status as an outpost of the British Empire. Not only did Canada make use of the imperial civil service to confront this danger, but the very subversion it faced was a product of the mother country\u27s own history of imperialism and colonialism

The Origins of Political Policing in Canada: Class, Law, and the Burden of Empire

This essay examines the origins of the Canadian secret service from the 1860s to the Great War. During this time, the Canadian government faced political challenges from Irish republicans and South Asian radicals. Both groups sought to liberate their home countries-Ireland and India-from British rule by promoting the idea of independence and the necessity of militant tactics amongst their respective immigrant communities in North America. Faced with this subversive activity, which had both domestic and international implications, the government created a secret service to gather political intelligence. Significantly, the government\u27s political response was shaped decisively by its status as an outpost of the British Empire. Not only did Canada make use of the imperial civil service to confront this danger, but the very subversion it faced was a product of the mother country\u27s own history of imperialism and colonialism

Presidential Address: The Empire Strikes Back: The Nineteenth-Century Origins of the Canadian Secret Service

While the history of the RCMP security service is becoming better known, study of its nineteenth-century predecessors is just beginning. From experiments with a rural police force established in Lower Canada in the aftermath of the 1837 Rebellions, the United Provinces of Canada created two secret police forces in 1864 to protect the border from American invasion. With the end of the Civil War, these forces turned to protecting the Canadas from Fenian activities. The Dominion Police, established in 1868, provided a permanent home for the secret service. The NWMP followed in 1873. Unlike the English, whose Victorian liberalism was suspicious of political and secret police, Canadians appear to have been much more accepting of such organisations and did not challenge John A. Macdonald's creation or control of a secret police. Republicanism, whether in the guise of Quebec, Irish or American nationalism, was seen as antithetical to the new nation of Canada, and a secret police was deemed necessary to protect the nation against it.Si l'on connaît mieux maintenant l'histoire du Service de sécurité de la G.R.C., on en sait toutefois encore peu sur ses origines, au XIXe siècle. Dans le sillage des rébellions de 1837, le Canada-Uni avait établi une police rurale dans le Bas-Canada et riche de cette expérience, il avait créé deux forces de police secrète en 1864 pour défendre sa frontière contre une éventuelle invasion américaine. La guerre civile terminée, on donna à ces deux corps policiers le mandat de protéger le Canada-Uni de l'activisme des Fenians. La Police fédérale, créée en 1868, prit sous son aile les services secrets. Puis, ce fut l'établissement de la Police à cheval du Nord-Ouest en 1873. Contrairement aux Anglais, que leur libéralisme victorien rendait méfiants envers toute police politique ou secrète, les Canadiens semblaient plus ouverts à la présence de telles organisations ; ils ne songèrent donc pas à contester la décision de John A. Macdonald de créer ou de disposer d'une police secrète. Celle-ci, estimait-on, devait prémunir la jeune nation contre le républicanisme, qu'il se manifestât dans le nationalisme québécois, irlandais ou américain, car l’on jugeait cette doctrine politique contraire à l’esprit devant animer le nouveau Canada

Evidence for Sodium-Coupled Acid-Base Transport Across the Basolateral Membrane of the Reabsorptive Duct of the Human Eccrine Sweat Gland

Intracellular pH was measured in isolated nonperfused ducts of human eccrine sweat glands in vitro to investigate basolateral acid-base transport mechanisms. Bath sodium removal led to a bicarbonate-independent, 4-acetamido-4′-isothiocyanatostilbene-2,2′-disulfonic acid insensitive acidification. The recovery of this acidification was ethylisopropyl amiloride sensitive, suggestive of basolateral sodium:hydrogen exchange. Whereas bath chloride removal led to a small acidification this was not 4-acetamido-4′-isothiocyanatostilbene-2,2′-disulfonic acid sensitive and its causes remain unclear. Elevation of bath potassium to depolarize the basolateral membrane led to a small alkalinization but this was not mimicked by addition of barium or chloride removal. As chloride removal and barium addition would be expected to cause larger depolarizations than potassium elevation these observations do not support a major role for electrogenic acid-base transport. In conclusion, although this study does not support a major role for electrogenic acid-base transport, it has demonstrated the basolateral presence of sodium-coupled acid-base transport in the reabsorptive duct of the human eccrine sweat gland, which most likely represents a sodium:hydrogen exchanger involved in regulation of intracellular pH