The Mounties and The Making of a Settler Colonial Order

The Mounties and The Making of a Settler Colonial Order

The police play a significant role in our everyday life by protecting us from potentially harmful situations and criminals in general. In many countries, their main tasks range from offering security to participating in social programs that impact people’s lives. The work of police officers ranges from building trust with the people they are charged to protect to ensuring there is transparency in the era where information has a prospect of increasing accountability (Jackson, 2015). Many of them use social media to create rapport with the community and also to know the best way to deal and serve them effectively (Denef et al., 2013). The police system also has gone through many transformations and reforms in Canada from the now-defunct Northwest Mounted Police to the deferent forces in the country. However, it showed the world what is possible with international police with the United Nations now haven one of its units. Although NWMP morphed to Royal Canadian Mounted Police, some of its functions and influences from its formation guided their continued operations into the 20^th century. The essay will look into its past and analyze how the powers and institutional structures played into the settler colonialism and indigenous sovereignty in the late 19^th century.

NWMP played a significant role in the internal colonization of the indigenous communities and while stripping them of their cultural practices through assimilation. Colonialism in different places in the world is known from different perspectives. Still, all of them focus on one thing, loss of the sovereignty of a country, community, nation, or group of people (Lester & Dussart, 2014). During the period of expansion or Great Britain and spread of their principles of capitalism throughout the world, The North-West Mounted Police, later known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, played a significant role in ensuring that the indigenous communities in Canada changed their traditional practices. Their role and reason for formation also were to ensure that the western region was safe from annexation by the United States. However, this region had indigenous communities that were not under control of the Canadian government lead by Sir John McDonald(Lester & Dussart, 2014). To establish the rule and British capitalism, NVWMP got the mandated to make sure that the communities followed the rule of the government that was in place while also stopping the spread and influence of the United States’ view on Democracy, many of the communities got warned against trading with the whiskey trader. In other cases, they had the mandate to protect the lives of the European settlers who had settled in previously Indigenous communities’ lands while those displaced settled in the reserves. At the end of the 19^th century, most of  traditional civilization of the Indian communities were abolished; others ewere assimilated with a promise of registration as citizens regardless of the treaty the government had signed.

The first legal power given to NVMP was to deal with the alcohol traders from the U.S.A. who had come to deal with alcohol selling. The Massacre in the northwest had brought the spotlight on the governance of the indigenous people in the region. Alexandra Morris suggested that the reason there was unruliness in the region was because of the traders who were selling the region. The view was reinforced by letters from Washington that urged Canada to secure the west to prevent the American Indians from purchasing whiskey in Canada (Bell & Schreiner, 2018). With these points of view, the government had no option but to form a policing force (NWMP) that would help secure the west while also ensuring that Canada’s sovereignty was protected from the aggressive U.S.A. After its formation, a group of more than 200 men were ordered to head west in what came to be known as the “March west.” The group took around five months to reach fort Whoop-up. However, their mission was poorly planned; hence the expedition faced many challenges; they lost their horse and ran out of supply during the journey. Because the whiskey merchants knew that they were coming, they had stopped their dealing with the alcohol long before the arrival of NVMP. Because these communities in the west had their style of leadership, the legal powers given by McDonald’s government to the police meant that they lost their sovereignty to Canada. Therefore, they had no option to choose what befitted them but to follow what the government through NVMP prescribed as right. The trade they were to conduct over the border with whiskey traders got demonized, leading to the loss of their economic activity and way of life among the people (Bell & Schreiner, 2018). The legal powers given to NWMP had no clarity in structure and mode of operation hence giving leeway for them to decide on their own of the best fitting way for them to operate..

Before the institutionalization of NVMP, western lands and plains had not been occupied by settlers because of extreme climate and difficulty in navigating the terrain of the region. Parts of the western region have drylands with many rocks that cover the plains. With this unpleasant climate, rocks, and fear of an attack from indigenous communities, many of the European settlers ended up occupying the eastern parts of Canada. In conjunction with NWMP, the construction of a railway line to the west connected the region to the rest of developed country. An uprising emerged among indigenous communities that protested its construction. Many of them were displaced from their sacred lands without any reconsideration and taken to the reserves.  Amidst these, NWMP protected those working on the railway and fending off the aggression of communities. In a way, their actions were portrayed as advancing civilization to those left behind and larking in ignorance of happening around them (Bell & Schreiner, 2018). To justify their actions, the emphasis was laid on view that they had to bring law and order to society. The government bolstered their action and expanded mandate as they were seen as the only force to deal with the guerrilla type of warfare that the local communities were waging (Simpson, 2014). Thus, the rail opened the western region resulting in the settlers occupying the plain to carry on agriculture (especially ranching) while the indigenous communities settled in reserves. Above it all, NWMP helped the transition based on advancing civilization through the assimilation of indigenous communities.

The legal structure and institutions enabled the police to punish not only communities and individuals who were seen as sowing seeds of social disorder but also those participating in criminal activities. Crime and social disorder had a precedent of profiling communities and people concerning their social class and sometimes appearance (McCormick & Green, 2005). They were deployed to restore order in places where citizens had risen to protest against the rights infringed on. In particular, problem arose with the advent of capitalism to replace feudalism, which was the practice of many indigenous communities. Given that many of the people from the indigenous communities had little to no skills in working in the industrialized world that was the 19^thcentury, many of them became candidates of low wages that were not comparable to the work they were doing. Protests emerged that threatened the kind of ideology pushed by Britain all around the world.

Additionally, as some of the traditional practices among was cargo entitlement later seen as disruptive, hence those participating were termed as idle criminals (Bell & Schreiner, 2018). As a result, the police called to deal with them to prevent the perceived thieves. Notably, police had not only a role in promoting morally engaging activities and undertakings among communities but also to make sure people conformed to the new political-economic. For instance, Jean-Charles Lemaire positioned the police as a way of governing and abolishing disorder instead of them exercising law (McMullan, 1998). Thus, the whole process became a way of managing social problems caused by the advent of capitalism to consolidate state power.

The policing authority had both the internal and external bearing in them functioning with a mix of policing and military tactics. Through the yearning of the government to make sure that every rebellion in the country did not boil out to undermine it legitimize, NWMP never got reprimanded for their inhumane actions against aborigines (Jones et al., 2014).  During Canada’s conferring, not all the religions of the dominion were effectively Canada’s rule. The indigenous communities had their only form of government and functioned independently from the federal government. As seen before, the prairies had not been occupied because of geographical inconveniences that existed and foreseen rebellion from local communities. The task given to the NWMP was to bring the whole region under the control of the federal government with no bloodshed. The emphasis was on using policing tactics to facilitate the assimilation of the communities. However, the idea did not see the light of the day as NWMP involved itself in wars after the war, leading to bloodshed (Bell & Schreiner, 2018). As the communities fell desperate, the signed treaties to get government protection and provisions as they no longer had a source of income. Also, with the population of buffalos decreasing due to extensive hunting, many of the communities had to surrender. Additionally, the Yukon came under Canadian sovereignty.

With the development and industrialization of Canada, urban area arouses mostly along the railway line as more and more settlers settled in the areas west of the country. Several economic activities raised the prospect of many to settle in this region. Furthermore, just like any other city in the world, crime prevalence rose more so because people were treated differently concerning their social class (McMullan, 1998). Thus the police had a bias against people of the lower class and showed favoritism to those of higher social class. As a result, many of the prison records show that several people jailed were from low-income family backgrounds. Especially, those profoundly affected were the indigenous communities, as many of them had no way through to the high society due to the constraints that existed. The reserves were marked places where crimes were prevalent and high, which meant that many of the police work was committed in these areas. They profiled particular individuals and even communities and established them as dangerous to society. Those  at the forefront of fighting for the rights of the whole community were identified, marked, and monitored as a risk. With such practices, many people who were against the settlement of settlers in their land ended up in prison.

Conclusively, NWMP played a significant role in establishing the internal colonization of the indigenous people by suppressing their voices and forcing them into assimilation. The excellent support is provided for the settler to occupy lands previously belong to Indigenous communities in the west show the inhumane action they were allowed to participate in. Additionally, the legal powers and institutional goodwill for these acts embroidered their activities.

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