Oct. 5, 2007
One of the biggest challenges I face with this project is where to start learning the history of this great country. Our history actually starts over two hundred and fifty years before we gained our own independence, a country under its own control. However, I’ve started to discover that we really do have a colorful history full of thieves and pirates, explorers and entrepreneurs, and of course the common folk who are the real heart of this country. So, where do I start? Why not start with one of our national symbols, the R.C.M.P. Seems like a good place to start.
· 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
(Info is from the R.C.M.P. website.)
I don’t want to overwhelm you or me, so I’ll do little tidbits like this as I go along.
