It was created on May 22, 1868, in response to the assassination of Thomas D'Arcy McGee, a prominent Irish-Canadian politician and MP for Montreal West, in Ottawa on 7 April. McGee was killed by elements of the Fenian Brotherhood, a powerful Irish nationalist organization based in the United States, in the new federal capital of Canada less than a year after the country was formed by the Confederation. The Canadian authorities were worried about the power of the Fenian Brotherhood, which had already launched three major raids into Canada in 1866 before McGee's death, and that existing law enforcement agencies were not capable of protecting state security.