The RCMP owns more than 1,000 Chinese-made drones, despite imposing security restrictions that bar the technology from national security cases and certain sensitive police operations.
A federal response to an Order Paper question reveals the Mounties owned 1,027 drones manufactured in China as of May 29, including 999 made by Chinese drone giant DJI. The tally excludes micro-drones, which the RCMP says are not systematically tracked in a centralized database.
The drones are used for crime scene investigations, traffic collisions, border security, search and rescue, Emergency Response Team operations and other policing activities.
However, the RCMP restricts Chinese-made — or what it calls “Pan-Asian” — drones based on the sensitivity of the mission, as first reported by Rebel News.
“The Royal Canadian Mounted Police continually assesses the safety and security of its Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems fleet and employs a risk-based approach to align drone platforms with security requirements of each mission,” the force said.
High-risk drones are prohibited from sensitive Emergency Response Team activities, VIP protective policing and border operations or investigations conducted with U.S. federal agencies.
The Mounties also said Chinese-origin drones are not used “in cases that could impact national security,” limiting them instead to non-sensitive work such as traffic reconstruction. They must operate in local data mode to prevent transmissions during flights, with data stored and processed offline on secure RCMP infrastructure.
Those restrictions come as an earlier internal RCMP report cited by Blacklock’s Reporter identified 973 Chinese-made drones as “high security risks primarily due to their country of origin, data handling practices, supply chain integrity and potential vulnerability.”
The earlier tally is lower than the 1,027 Chinese-made drones the RCMP reported owning as of May 29, 2026.
Replacing the 973 drones identified in the earlier report could cost taxpayers between $30.2 million and $34.1 million.
“The current replacement model is more than twice the cost of Chinese drones estimated at $31,000 to $35,000 per unit,” the Mounties wrote.
The RCMP is far from the only federal agency using Chinese-made drones.
The Canada Border Services Agency owns six DJI drones, including two used for container examinations and another used for technical testing and judicially authorized property searches.
CBSA says it has taken precautions to prevent information collected by the aircraft from reaching the Chinese government or government-connected entities.
“The drones do not have data cards and are not connected to any networks,” the agency said. “Information collected is via live feed to the controller only and there is no storage on the Canada Border Services Agency’s networks.”
Correctional Service Canada owns another 12 Chinese-made drones, which are used for training, testing and searches of difficult-to-access areas such as prison rooftops.
The agency said reviews of independent cybersecurity and testing reports found “no critical vulnerabilities, hidden backdoors, or evidence of unauthorized data transmissions” involving the Chinese-manufactured devices.
Chinese-made drones are also used across numerous other federal bodies, including Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Statistics Canada, Natural Resources Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada uses the technology for a notably different purpose — promoting immigration.
“The drones are used for unclassified routine communications/video production to promote immigration to the country,” IRCC said.
The department said its footage consists of wide shots filmed in Canada to establish locations before presenting stories about “successful immigration.”