Riders of the Plains
The idea for a mounted police force to bring law and order to the frontier west was originally proposed by Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first Prime Minister. Mindful of the violence which had accompanied westward expansion in the United States, Macdonald conceived of a force of mounted police whose primary responsibility was to establish friendly relations with the Aboriginal people of the Prairies and to maintain the peace as settlers arrived. Organized in 1873, the North West Mounted Police (NWMP) was dispatched west to Manitoba. From Fort Dufferin, a force of 275 men set forth across the prairies. The trek across the unsettled territory proved long and arduous, testing the very survival of the fledgling corps.
Upon it's arrival on the frontier, the NWMP established a series of posts and patrols which protected the Aboriginal peoples from the unscrupulous practices of whisky traders. Later, when the settlers arrived from the east after the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, members of the NWMP were there to greet them. Not only did the Mounties enforce the law to the benefit of all, but they also ensured that essential services were available to sustain the newcomers against the hardships of a frontier existence.
The Arctic Frontier
The success of the Mounted Police on the Prairies led to their use in other frontier situations. In the 1890s word of the discovery of gold in the Klondike brought hordes of inexperienced and ill-equipped prospectors to the Yukon Territory. Fortunately, the Mounted Police arrived on the scene to prevent serious disorder thus enshrining the gold rush as one of the most colourful episodes in Canadian history, rather than one of the most tragic. Concern about the welfare of the Aboriginal peoples also led the Mounted Police to the Northwest Territories and Arctic Islands in the early years of the twentieth century. Relations between the members of the Force and the Arctic Inuit grew into mutual respect and interdependence which smoothed the path of contact from the south.
From Sea to Sea to Sea
In recognition of it's accomplishments, the Force was given the title "royal" in 1904, by Kind Edward VII and became the Royal Northwest Mounted Police. In 1920, the Canadian government decided to extend the jurisdiction of the Force across Canada, making it a truly national police service with it's headquarters in Ottawa. This new entity absorbed the Dominion Police which had enforced federal law in eastern Canada, and was renamed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The Force's reputation for effectiveness led other levels of government to contract for their services in place of their own police agencies. In 1928, by means of a contract between the RCMP and the government of Saskatchewan, the Force undertook police duties for that province. Similar contracts were made in 1932 with Manitoba, Alberta, and the three Maritime provinces.
In that year the RCMP also took over the Preventive Service of the Department of National Revenue, bringing with it wide authority in enforcing customs and excise regulations. In 1935, the RCMP entered the area of municipal policing with it's first contract to serve as the police force in Flin Flon, Manitoba.
During the Second World War, the RCMP was responsible for maintaining Canada's internal security and, through service in the Canadian Provost Corps, acted as Canada's military police on the battlefields in Europe.
In 1950, the RCMP assumed the provincial police duties for British Columbia and undertook enforcement of federal and provincial laws in Newfoundland when it joined Confederation in 1949.
In 1974, women were admitted to the ranks of the Force and increased emphasis was placed on accommodating visible minorities.
Today, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is Canada's National police service enforcing federal laws across the nation, acting as the provincial police force in all provinces except Ontario and Quebec, and as the territorial police in Yukon and the Northwest Territories. It also is the local police force for about 200 municipalities.
