The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has a history dating back to 1873 and has been involved in several high-profile controversies during that time, particularly in the 1970s.
Until 1920, the RCMP's forerunner, the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, operated only in Western Canada and the North. The new organization was created by an amalgamation with the Dominion Police, giving the RCMP a national security mandate as a departure from its earlier role ...
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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has a history dating back to 1873 and has been involved in several high-profile controversies during that time, particularly in the 1970s.
Until 1920, the RCMP's forerunner, the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, operated only in Western Canada and the North. The new organization was created by an amalgamation with the Dominion Police, giving the RCMP a national security mandate as a departure from its earlier role as a frontier police force. Early controversies grew from its preoccupation with Communism and the labour movement. Following from its operations in the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, the RCMP intervened in labour disputes, not as an impartial law enforcement agency, but to assist with breaking strikes. In one incident, RCMP officers clashed with striking coal miners for 45 minutes in Estevan, Saskatchewan in 1933 and killed three miners during the melee (see Estevan Riot). Part of its strategy against labour organizing included extensive...
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