140th anniversary marked last week | Formation of North West Mounted Police part of national policy to settle the West
Some of the first ranchers and homesteaders in Western Canada were former North West Mounted Police.
The history of the police force coincides with the history of settlement on the Prairies. The Mounties came west before most European settlers did.
May 23 marked the official day 140 years ago in 1873 when the Dominion Parliament created the police force.
Continental ambitions largely dominated the agenda of the government of the day, under the leadership of Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. MacDonald. Canada had acquired Rupert’s Land in the 1870s, comprising present day Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
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“They realized that if the United States was continental, then Canada had to be continental too or we would be swallowed up if we did not occupy our west,” said history professor Bill Waiser of the University of Saskatchewan.
The author of 15 books about Canadian history, Waiser said the main purpose for western occupation was for agricultural settlement.
“There was the belief that settlement was going to proceed at a rapid pace and they had great expectations for the region. They’re not talking about tens of thousands. They’re talking about millions of people coming to Western Canada,” he said.
Treaties with First Nations were being established along with a survey system to homestead the land. A transcontinental railway was underway to take people and goods west.
“The police are part of what are collectively called national policies,” he said. “The police were meant to bring law and order to Western Canada to ensure that it was a peaceful, orderly frontier.”
Historical records indicate the force was recruiting men between the ages of 18 and 40, of sound constitution, able to ride, active, able-bodied and of good character.
The pay was set at 75 cents per day for sub-constables and $1 for constables. The men were also required to be able to read and write.
Waiser said the distinctive red serge was deliberate because it distinguished the new force from the blue uniformed American cavalry.
The first troops, totalling 150 men, were sent west over the Dawson Route in the autumn of 1873. They reached the Red River in late October and proceeded to Lower Fort Garry, 30 kilometres down river from Winnipeg. Another 150 men met up with the first group at the boundary settlement of Fort Dufferin in the spring of 1874. Together they began “the long march” west from Manitoba to present day southern Alberta. The recruits battled cold weather, fatigue, disease, lack of water and dying horses along the way.
From the outset, the march was designed to mark Canada’s southern most boundaries at the 49th parallel.
“They deliberately take a route that is parallel to the international border. That’s symbolic. They are taking possession of this region on behalf of Canada and they are asserting Canadian sovereignty,” said Waiser.
The North West Mounted Police performed a variety of functions and roles: conducting patrols, assisting incoming settlers, delivering mail, taking the census, making arrests and acting as judges during trials.
“In the pioneer western settlement phase, when the homesteaders are coming in, it’s often the Mountie that was the face of the government on the frontier,” Waiser said.
