Canadian legal expert Michael Spratt wrote , " ... there 's no question that Canadian police sometimes look more like post-apocalyptic military mercenaries than protectors of the peace . Our police services have been acquiring more and more military toys — a dangerous trend that 's gotten little in the way of critical analysis in the mainstream media . " Growing numbers of Canadian police agencies have acquired armored vehicles in recent years . In 2010 the Ottawa Police Service bought a Lenco G3 BearCat armored personnel carrier for $ 340,000 , which has " half-inch-thick military steel armoured bodywork , .50 caliber-rated ballistic glass , blast-resistant floors , custom-designed gun ports and ... a roof turret . " The G20 protests in Toronto in 2010 showed that the militarization of protest policing is not only occurring in the United States . Police in Toronto used a sound cannon , or Long Range Acoustic Device ( LRAD ) -- a weapon that was developed for use in conflicts in the Middle East , as well as barricades , pre-emptive arrests and riot units . According to Kevin Walby , an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Winnipeg , " the more interesting aspect of the militarization of the police is actually on the strategy side " ; police are " increasingly training with military-style tacticians , especially when it comes to situations like crowd control and , increasingly , surveillance . " On June 3 , 2015 it was reported that " RCMP officers have started openly carrying MP5 submachine guns on Parliament Hill as part of a visible increase to Parliament Hill security following last October 's terrorist attack " in 2014 . Conservative senator Vern White , a former RCMP officer and a former Ottawa police chief states that " ... some RCMP officers guarding Parliament Hill against potential terrorist attacks should be armed with rifles similar to those carried by Canadian troops in Afghanistan , " the " ... more powerful Colt C8 which is popular with police tactical teams and Canadian and other NATO alliance troops . " White argues that the C8 carbines would give officers a much longer shooting range than the short-barreled MP5 submachine guns . " The RCMP is issuing more than 2,200 C8 carbines to its officers , " but the RCMP has not indicated whether the C8s will be issued to Parliament Hill officers
October 's terrorist attack
2014 shootings at Parliament Hill, Ottawa
Militarization of police