Detailed Description
|
page 2
|
page 3
|
page 4
|
page 5
|
page 6
|
page 7
|
page 8
|
page 9
|
page 10
|
page 11
|
page 12
|
page 13
|
page 14
|
page 15
|
page 16
|
page 17
|
page 18
|
page 19
|
|
James Finlayson's diary of
the march west
1874
In contrast to most nineteenth-century police agencies,
the North-West Mounted Police did not recruit its members
from the region where it expected to operate. Instead,
enlisted members like James Finlayson, whose diary of
the 1874 march is included here, were recruited from
the ruling English-speaking Protestant segments of
eastern society. Westerners would have had some familiarity
with the Prairie landscape and its people. If they had
been recruited into the police force, perhaps the march
west would have been far less traumatic.
[more]
Unlike most police forces of the period, members
of the North-West Mounted Police, like their Irish
counterpart, were armed and subjected to military
discipline. As well, police forces were usually placed
in an autonomous position from government, but the
North-West Mounted Police was under the direct control
of the federal government. In other words, the Commissioner
of the North-West Mounted Police would be accountable
only to the Parliament of Canada, not the Lieutenant-Governor,
or the Council of the North-West Territories, or any
of the local town councils that were soon to appear
in the West.
Since many easterners viewed the West as a unique
opportunity to create a new and better version of
their society, they felt that there would be no better
way to begin this process than by sending representatives
of the very people they wanted the new society to
copy. By recruiting a police force from among their
own members, the eastern ruling elite was, in a sense,
trying to ensure that economic and social ties would
be maintained between the two regions, and by doing
so, they hoped to be able to control the direction
of western development. More importantly, the eastern
recruits would provide a strong counterbalance to
American expansion north of the 49th parallel, at
least until such time as Canadian claims of ownership
could be established through other more substantial
means, such as a railway and massive pioneer settlement.
|