page_title: Police band (music)
section_title: Canada
hierarchical_section_title: Police band (music) / Police bands by country / Americas / Canada
caption_attribution_description: English: The RCMP Northwest Mounted Strolling Dixieland Band perform in Ottawa, Canada.
context_page_description: A police band is a military-style band operated or sponsored by a police force. Police bands provide ceremonial support for civic events, and perform at police observances such as funerals and police academy graduations. Most police bands consists exclusively of professional police officers, while others consist of personnel of law enforcement and other special agencies. Like military bands, their repertoire is mostly composed of ceremonial marching music and honors music.
context_section_description: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Band (RCMP Band), which operated for more than 55 years until its disbandment in 1994  (Due to budget cuts), considered to be regarded today as one of and best and most notable professional bands assembled in Canada. There were various police bands in the RCMP that flourished during the 1950s, leading the Canadian government granting approval for a full-time central band to be created in December 1958, with headquarters in the capital of Ottawa. It was listed repeatedly as one of Canada's finest bands, which earned it the privilege of being able to play for dignitaries such as Mikhail Gorbachev and Queen Elizabeth II in 1990. Although it was an official regimental band, the members worked in the band as a secondary job apart from their actual jobs in the RCMP. Members of the band wore the RCMP's notable Red Serge and adopted in the band Canadian military discipline which was in part inspired by the British Army's experience with military and police bands. Appearances made by the band also included the Expo 86 and the Commonwealth Conference in Vancouver, as well as the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988. To this day, many RCMP officers continue the original band's tradition by serving in smaller police bands in areas of RCMP operation.
  Instead of brass and reed bands, the RCMP now sponsors eight regional pipe bands across the major cities of the 10 provinces. The following are the locations of the regional volunteer pipe bands:
  Halifax
  Moncton
  Montreal
  Ottawa
  Winnipeg
  Regina
  Edmonton
  Vancouver
  These bands act as "garrison bands" for the provincial division.
  Outside of the RCMP, pipe bands are also maintained in the various police departments throughout the country. Examples of this include but are not limited to: the Ottawa Police Service Pipe Band, the Ceremonial Band of the Waterloo Regional Police, the Vancouver Police Pipe Band and the Toronto Police Pipe Band. Other non-traditional volunteer bands such as Duty Calls (formed in 1997) from the London Police Service is also maintained. The Bridgewater Fire Department Band is the oldest fire department band in the country. The Ottawa Fire Services Band was named in February 2001 as the "Official Band of the City of Ottawa".
caption: Although the official band of the RCMP has disbanded, several small RCMP veterans bands such as this one still remain.
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