Historical Highlights

A. Inception

• conception: Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first Prime Minister and Minister of Justice
• inspiration: the Royal Irish Constabulary and the mounted rifle units of the United States Army
• objective: to bring law, order and Canadian authority to the North-West Territories (present-day Alberta and Saskatchewan)
• legal authority: Act of Parliament (36 Vic, ch 35), May 23, 1873; Order in Council 1134, August 30, 1873
• organization: appointment of officers and recruitment for the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) commenced September 25, 1873, and concluded in the spring of 1874
• deployment: the great "March West", approximately 275 officers and men, with horses and equipment departed Dufferin, Manitoba on July 8, 1874, and arrived in present-day southern Alberta in October

B. Early role, 1874-1905

• general law enforcement detachments were established throughout the prairies and a patrol system instituted in order to police effectively the entire region
• established friendly relations with the First Nations, contained the whisky trade and enforced prohibition, supervised treaties between First Nations and the federal government
• assisted the settlement process by ensuring the welfare of immigrants, fighting prairie fires, disease and destitution

C. Expansion and Reorganization, 1895-1920

• Mounted Police jurisdiction extended to the Yukon in 1895 and to the Arctic coast in 1903
• prefix "Royal" conferred on the NWMP by King Edward VII in June 1904
• Royal Northwest Mounted Police (RNWMP) contracted to police the new provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905
• Mounted Police responsibilities extended to northern Manitoba in 1912
• First World War: border patrols, surveillance of enemy aliens, enforcement of national security regulations
• provincial policing contracts terminated in 1917, RNWMP now responsible for federal law enforcement only in Alberta, Saskatchewan and the territories; in 1918, however, enforcement extended to all four western provinces
• in 1920, federal policing is reorganized, the RNWMP absorb the Dominion Police and become the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP); responsibility for federal law enforcement extended to all provinces and territories

D. Development of the RCMP, 1920-1994

• the RCMP return to provincial policing in 1928 under contract to Saskatchewan
• detachments established in the eastern and high Arctic in the 1920s to protect Canadian sovereignty in the region
• provincial policing responsibilities assumed in Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, 1932
• men and vessels of the Preventive Service, National Revenue, are absorbed in 1932, thus creating the RCMP Marine Section
• development of "national police services" in the 1930s, including fingerprints, crime index, firearms registration, photo section, forensic laboratory
• transportation and communication improvements: cars, trucks, motorcycles, ships, aircraft, telephones, radio
• the RCMP supply vessel, St. Roch, makes her historic voyage through the North-West Passage, 1940-1942
• protection of national security during the Second World War, 1939-1945
• provincial policing contracts extended to include British Columbia and Newfoundland in 1950
• expansion and evolution of RCMP security operations: Special Branch, 1950, Directorate of Security and Intelligence, 1962, Security Service, 1970; creation of a separate agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), 1984
• the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) established in 1972
• expansion of duties and responsibilities in the 1970s: airport policing, VIP security, drug enforcement, economic crime
• first women recruited as uniformed regular members, September 1974
• expansion of international police duties, 1990s: Namibia, Yugoslavia, Haiti, Kosovo, Bosnia/Herzegovina, East Timor, Guatemala, Croatia, Western Sahara

E. Military Record

• Northwest Rebellion, 1885: Duck Lake, Fort Pitt, Cut Knife Hill, pursuit of Big Bear
• South African War, 1899-1902: members represented in the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles and Lord Strathcona's Horse; in all, over 250 members served in the Canadian contingents and in the South African Constabulary
• First World War, 1914-1918: cavalry squadrons provided for overseas service, "A" Squadron (England, France and Belgium), "B" Squadron (Siberia)
• Second World War, 1939-1945: RCMP Marine and Air Section personnel transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force, 1939; creation of No. 1 Provost Company for military police duties overseas