RCMP recognized for 150 years of service
By Joan Janzen
The month of May marked the RCMP’s 150th anniversary. The Canadian government officially formed the North West Mounted Police (NWMP) on May 23, 1873 for the purpose of policing the massive territory, including Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Information procured from an article published on SaskNow.com in May of 2013 said the Mounties came west before most European settlers and became known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in 1920 after merging with the Dominion Police. Before moving to Regina, the NWMP headquarters were located in Fort Walsh in the Cypress Hills region.
Photo (from The Leader Post “A Century In Scarlett” edition, May 22, 1973) The deserted barracks of the NWMP post near Maple creek have been demolished.
In 1973, The Leader Post published a 100th-anniversary edition. In it, Mary Ann Fitzgerald reported that 150 years ago, NWMP paved the way for peaceful settlement of Canada’s west. She noted, on May 3, 1873, Sir John A. MacDonald introduced legislation to establish a police force in the territories with a maximum strength of 300 men. Parliament approved the legislation on May 23 of that same year, and the NWMP came into being.
By the fall of 1873, 150 men had been recruited for the force. They were a mixed group of farmers, soldiers, tradesmen, surveyors, butchers, professors, lumberjacks, clerks and even a bartender. Applicants only needed to be physically fit, of good character, able to read and write either English or French and able to ride well. They signed up for three years.
Their duties included establishing law and order throughout 300,000 square miles stretching 1,000 miles west of the Red River to the Rocky Mountains and from the American border to the North Saskatchewan River. They were also required to stop the illicit whiskey trade by American free-boosters and gain the respect and confidence of the Indians.
More than three decades later, the 1914 annual report of the NWMP reported a total of 1,213 non-commissioned officers and constables. Seven hundred and one of those constables were in Saskatchewan, and 165 were in Alberta. After the outbreak of the First World War, instructions were issued to increase the strength by 500 men to ensure the peace and good order of Alberta and Saskatchewan. By the fall of 1914, there were 97 detachments in Alberta and 101 in Saskatchewan.
The report (which is available online) stated that this arrangement of services between the Government of Canada and the two provinces would terminate in April 1916.
Local historian William Wardell wrote about law enforcement in the Eatonia region. He said village constables were expected to deal with delinquent dogs, cows, horses and children and were never too certain what other duties they were expected to perform. The Mounted Police occasionally patrolled the district, but there was never a full-time magistrate, organized police force, court house or jail cell in the district.
In Alsask’s history book “Captured Memories,” Anne McPherson Wilkie recalled names of local policemen from the early 1900s. They were Charles Eamer, Albert Cook, Alex May and Mr. Nash. She remembered curfew was set at 9:00 p.m. when everyone under the age of sixteen had to be off the streets.
“Echoes from the Tower,” a report of Kerrobert’s history, noted the Sask. Provincial Police lived in the east suite in the Court House basement. Sometime between 1929 - 1931, the RCMP took over the duties.
In the history book, “Kindersley Memories,” the first Mounted Policemen were stationed in Kindersley in May of 1910. In 1913 Kindersley was made a judicial centre, and a courthouse was built. On Feb. 25, 1914, the first murder trial took place in the Kindersley Court House when P.A. Hardy of Fiske was acquitted of murdering Lee Yuen.
Now it’s 2023, and the RCMP is celebrating their rich history and many accomplishments. They are very deserving of the support and recognition of the local communities they serve.