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Unlike the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), CCG is a civilian organisation. None of CCG's personnel is a peace officer. Enforcing and protecting Canada's maritime sovereignty is a military task and the complete responsibility of the Canadian Navy. The enforcement of laws in Canada's territorial sea (any ocean waters in Canada are federal jurisdiction) is the responsibility of Canada's federal police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Saltwater fisheries enforcement is a specific responsibility of fisheries officers. Note that the Great Lakes are not coastal waters and are therefore not part of the territorial sea - thus certain laws on the Canadian side of the International Boundary in the Great Lakes may be enforced by the Ontario Provincial Police or municipal police forces, although enforcing any federal laws in these waters are still the ultimate responsibility of the RCMP.
Until 1995, CCG was administratively the responsibility of the Department of Transport ; this was changed with some controversy to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans , however after a decade the federal government is reexamining this decision.
The reason for placing CCG under the fisheries department was to achieve cost savings by amalgamating the two largest civilian vessel fleets within the federal government under a single department. Arising out of this arrangement, CCG became ultimately responsible for crewing, operating, and maintaining a larger fleet - both the original CCG fleet before 1995 of dedicated SAR vessels, NAVAID tenders, and multi-purpose icebreakers along with the fisheries department's collection of scientific research and fisheries enforcement vessels, all without any increase in budget. Different management practises and differences in organizational culture (fisheries is dedicated to conservation and protection of fish through enforcement whereas CCG's primary raison d'etre is overall marine safety and SAR) have proven to be stumbling blocks.
In a reorganization of the federal ministries following the swearing-in of prime minister Paul Martin's administration on December 12, 2003, several policy/regulatory responsibilities were transferred from CCG to the Department of Transport to provide Canadians with a single point of contact for issues related to marine safety and security, including the following:
Originally a variety of federal departments and even the navy performed the work which CCG does today. Beginning in the late 1800sEvents and Trends Beginning of the Napoleonic Wars ( 1803 1815). Semaphore is adopted by navies. United Kingdom founded in 1801 World Leaders Emperor Napoleon I ( France) Emperor Francis II ( Holy Roman Empire) Pope Pius VII Emperor Alexander I ( Russia), the federal government increasingly began to place the duties of maintaining aids to navigation (primarily lighthouses at the time), marine safety, and search and rescue under the precursor to the Department of Transport, the Department of Railways and Canals. In the early 1900sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s Years: 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 Events and Trends Technology Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first doc the department changed its name to the Department of Transport although for a time during the 1920sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 Events and trends Technology John Logie Baird invents the first working t, the Royal Canadian NavyThe Royal Canadian Navy RCN was the navy of Canada from 1911 until 1968 when the three branches of the Canadian military were merged into the Canadian Armed Forces. The modern Canadian navy has been known as Canadian Forces Maritime Command (MARCOM) since performed some of this work at a time when the navy was wavering between becoming a civilian organization during the inter-war period, although the work returned to the Department of Transport by the early 1930sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s Years: 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 Events and trends Technology Jet engine invented Link Trainer invented Sc. In the late 1950sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Years: 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 Events and trends Technology United States tests the first fusion bomb. it was decided to consolidate the work being done in the Marine Service of the Department of Transport and on January 28January 28 is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 337 days remaining (338 in leap years). Events 1521 Diet of Worms begins, lasting until May 25. 1547 Edward VI becomes King of England. 1573 articles of Warsaw Confederation are s, 1962Events January January 1 Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand January 3 Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro January 4 New York City introduces a train that operates without a crew on-board January 8 Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is e the Canadian Coast Guard was formed.
Throughout the 1960s- 1980s dozens of new ships were built as part of a national shipbuilding policy, and in response to the expanding requirements of the Canadian marine industry for CCG's services. Many of the older vessels built in the 1960s and 1970s were paid off and sold during CCG cutbacks to its fleet in the 1990s following integration with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. In the 1990s- 2000s, CCG expanded and modernized its SAR fleet by ordering British Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)-designed ARUN -class high endurance lifeboat cutters for open coastal areas, and the USCG-designed 47-foot Cape-class (CCG designation) medium endurance lifeboat cutters for the Great Lakes and more sheltered coastal areas.