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ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE: In History & Today   by Brian Alan Burhoe

The RCMP, Canada's Famous Law Organization

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) (French Gendarmerie Royale du Canada [GRC], literally Royal Gendarmerie of Canada; colloquially known as Mounties, and internally as The Force) is the federal, national, and paramilitary police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized forces in the world. With an on-strength establishment of 24,578 personnel, as of January 1, 2007, it is also the largest police force in Canada.

The RCMP was formed in 1920 by the merger of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police (RNWMP, founded 1873) with the Dominion Police (founded 1868). The former was originally named the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), and was given the Royal prefix by King Edward VII in 1904.

Much of the present-day organization's symbology has been inherited from its days as the NWMP, including the distinctive Red Serge uniform, paramilitary heritage, and mythos as a frontier force. The RCMP/GRC wording is specfically protected under the Trade-marks Act.

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The Original Force - The North-West Mounted Police

The NWMP's main task between 1874-85 was to establish and maintain amicable relations with the native peoples of the Northwest Territories. One of the Canadian Government's main concerns during this period was to avoid the American experience of frontier wars. Fortunately, the Canadian situation was different from that below the border. Miners and settlers had still not arrived in the Canadian west in sufficient numbers to challenge the warlike tribes for their hunting lands.

By the time substantial settlement did get underway on the Canadian prairies, the Indians' way of life had already changed dramatically, with the rapid disappearance of the buffalo herds. In the Spring of 1876, hostilities between the American Sioux and the United States Army made Canadian authorities anxious to peacefully acquire title to most of the territory held by the Saskatchewan First Nations and the Blackfoot Confederacy. In the same year, Treaty No. 6 was concluded between the Canadian Government and the Cree and Assiniboine.

The Crees and Assiniboine surrendered their title to 120,000 square miles of central Saskatchewan and Alberta by agreeing to this treaty. The presence of the NWMP in their scarlet tunics played an important calming role in the negotiations of Treaty No. 6.

In September 1877, at Blackfoot Crossing on the Bow River, tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy met with the two Canadian commissioners appointed to treaty with them: the Honourable David Laird, Lieutenant Governor of the Northwest Territories; and Commissioner J.F. Macleod of the North-West Mounted Police. The bond of trust which had developed between Commissioner Macleod and the two most prominent Indian Chiefs, Crowfoot and Red Crow, was the key to the successful signing of Treaty No. 7. In accepting the "Blackfoot Treaty," Crowfoot said: "The advice given me and my people has proven to be very good. If the police had not come to this country, where would we all be now? Bad men and whiskey were killing us so fast that very few of us would have been left today. The Mounted Police have protected us as the feathers of the bird protect it from the frosts of winter."

On September 22, amid pomp and ceremony, the Chiefs of the Blackfoot Confederacy signed Treaty No. 7, surrendering their title to what is today Southern Alberta. At last, the way was clear for plains' settlement and the building of a transcontinental railway which Canadians hoped would bring a new and prosperous future to their young nation.

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The Klondike Gold Rush

The original North-West Mounted Police had already established themselves as national heroes, both in fact and in fiction, when their exploits in the Klondike Gold Rush had made them world famous.

The Klondike, in the "Yukon," is still a famous tourist spot. The name "Yukon Territory" may also be used, although this usage is disputed by residents of the territory. The federal government's most recent update of the Yukon Act in 2003 confirmed Yukon, rather than Yukon Territory, as the current usage standard...

In 1896, three prospectors struck it rich in the Yukon. George Carmack, Skookum Jim, and Dawson Charlie found a rich deposit of gold in Bonanza Creek. This discovery inspired thousands of would-be prospectors to head north and turned Dawson City into the largest city west of Winnipeg by the turn of the century. It was during this time, in 1898, that the Yukon earned its current political status.

When the Gold Rush ended in 1903 more than 95 million dollars had been extracted from the Yukon's rivers. Though most of the gold is gone, some Yukoners continue to make a living as placer miners today.

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The Modern Force: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Today, as the federal police force of Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is responsible for enforcing federal laws. Unlike most other federal police forces, however, it also has a major role in front-line policing throughout the country, including in provincial jurisdictions; although the provinces and territories are constitutionally responsible for law and order, eight of them have chosen to contract most or all of their policing responsibilities to the RCMP.

The Force, consequently, operates under the direction of the provincial governments in regard to provincial and municipal law enforcement. The exceptions are Ontario, Quebec, and parts of Newfoundland and Labrador, which have their own provincial police forces the Ontario Provincial Police, the Sûreté du Québec, and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, respectively. In the three territories, the RCMP serves as the sole territorial police force. Additionally, many municipalities throughout Canada contract the RCMP to serve as their police force.

Accordingly, the RCMP is responsible for an unusually large breadth of duties, from policing in isolated rural towns, the far north, and urban areas; providing protection services for the monarch, Governor General, Prime Minister and other ministers of the Crown, visiting dignitaries, and diplomatic missions; enforcing federal laws, including wire fraud, counterfeiting, and other related matters; providing counterterrorism and domestic security; and participating in various international policing efforts.

The RCMP Security Service was a specialized political intelligence and counterintelligence branch with national security responsibilities, but was replaced with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service in 1984, following revelations of illegal covert operations relating to the Quebec separatist movement.[3] Duties, conduct and operational and reporting guidelines are very specifically laid out in a detailed document known as the Commissioner's Standing Orders, or CSOs.

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To read much more about the historic Mounties, go to NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICE: The Mounties in History, Literature & Hollywood.

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Brian Alan Burhoe

About the Author

Brian Alan Burhoe is the author of many dog-related articles and short stories. His fiction includes the free online story WOLFBLOOD: A Northwestern in the Tradition of Jack London. Many of his articles can be found at PUPPY DOGS INFO.