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The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian paramilitary police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory to Canada from the Hudson's Bay Company, the Red River Rebellion and in response to lawlessness ...
- Origins
- First Recruits
- The March West
- First Nations Relations
- North-West Resistance
- Law and Order
- Klondike and Arctic Expansion
- RCMP Established
On 23 May 1873, the Canadian Parliament passed an act to establish “a Mounted Police Force for the North-West Territories.” Formerly known as Rupert’s Land, the domain of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the North-West Territories had been purchased by Canada in 1870. It included all of present-day Manitoba, and parts of Saskatchewan, Alberta and Canada’s...
The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was modelled after the Royal Irish Constabulary. Macdonald initially called it the North-West Mounted Rifles, but changed Rifles to Police to avoid arousing American suspicions. Reports from the West had stressed the symbolic importance of the traditional British army uniform among First Nations, so the NWMP ado...
On 8 July 1874, 300 officers and men of the NWMP set out from Dufferin, Manitoba, on a gruelling, two-month, 1,300-kilometre march across untracked prairie. Men and horses endured extreme weather conditions, hunger, foul water, illness, and hordes of mosquitoes and black flies before reaching La Roche Percee in southern Saskatchewan. There, the con...
For a decade and a half, the NWMP concentrated on building close relations with First Nations – ones that were complex, and not always beneficial to Indigenous people. The police forged diplomatic links with the Blackfoot Confederacy, which included a friendship between James Macleod and Isapo-muxika. Such relations allowed the NWMP to play an esse...
In the early 1880s, unrest smoldered among the Métis and on reserves due to the disappearance of the bison herds, crop failures, the overbearing manner of Canadian Pacific Railway surveyors, and disenchantment with the government in Ottawa. NWMP strength was increased to 500 men, but that was insufficient for growing responsibilities, which now inc...
After the resistance, the government increased the NWMP to 1,000 men and appointed Commissioner Lawrence Herchmerto modernize the force. Herchmer improved training and enhanced methods of crime prevention, therefore preparing the police to cope with the coming waves of settlers. The police performed a wide array of civic duties, from serving as pos...
Inspector Charles Constantine had already established an NWMP post near the Yukon community of Forty Mile, when, in 1896, news of a major gold strike on the Klondike River touched off a stampede of fortune seekers to the North. The NWMP quickly set up checkpoints on the routes to Dawson City, the gold rush capital. Their strict enforcement of regul...
During the First World War, members of the RNWMP were exempted from military service because they were needed on the home front to discourage acts of enemy sabotage. In 1920, the RNWMP merged with the Dominion Police to form the Royal Canadian Mounted Police(RCMP).
In June 1874, the two groups assembled at Dufferin, Manitoba, to complete preparations for a march west to intercept the whisky traders from Montana. When clothing and equipment had been issued and the divisions adjusted to equal strength, all ranks were assembled for a full-dress ceremonial parade.
Dec 11, 2019 · The NWMP adopted police ranks for its officers with an equal honorary military rank. Commissioner = Lieutenant-Colonel . Superintendent = Captain . Sub-Inspector = Lieutenant . Paymaster = Captain . Veterinary Surgeon = Lieutenant. All recruits were also given a kit with their uniform, bedding, riding equipment and other equipment and were ...
Dec 10, 2019 · This staff sergeant shows the gold braid found on the uniforms of the higher ranks.
The police in Canada's ranks differ according to the different police forces and depend on different laws at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels.
The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian paramilitary police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory to Canada from the Hudson's Bay Company, the Red River Rebellion and in response to lawlessness ...
