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RCMP Centennial celebrations, 1973

Broadcast Date: May 19, 1973

The Mounties - they always get their man, and they're almost as old as Canada itself. On May 23, 1873, Parliament passed an act establishing a national mounted police force to patrol the Canadian Northwest.

One hundred years later, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating its centennial. In this May 1973 clip from Front Page Challenge, the panel asks Constable Henry P. Tadeson questions about the RCMP today, its history, and the upcoming centennial celebrations.

 

RCMP Centennial celebrations, 1973

•.Canada's first prime minister, John A. Macdonald, initiated the idea for the North-West Mounted Police (later known as the RCMP). In the early 1870s, lawless American whisky traders were starting to flood Canada's newly acquired Northwest Territories (which included modern-day Saskatchewan and Alberta). Macdonald was well aware of the violence that accompanied the early population of the American western plains. He didn't want a repeat of these problems in Canada, so he created the NWMP to ensure law and order as Canada populated its new lands.

• The RCMP's centennial celebrations featured displays and performances by RCMP horsemen and musicians, taking place in the summer of 1973 to coincide with tourist season. The Queen visited Saskatchewan and Alberta in July as part of the celebrations. A July 1973 Globe and Mail article remarked on her attendance: "How much more striking it was to see the RCMP's centennial birthday ceremonies presided over by the Queen whose great-great grandmother had signed the original documents which brought this splendid force into being."

• There were a number of interesting RCMP centennial products for sale in 1973. There were RCMP-themed collectors' plates and souvenir pottery, and there was even a souvenir rifle. The Winchester Rifle Company produced a copy of the rifle originally used by the Mounties in the 19th century, selling it for $125. A London, Ont.-based bubblegum company also produced a set of RCMP trading cards, which featured fun facts on the history of the Mounties.

RCMP Centennial celebrations, 1973

Medium: Television

Program: Front Page Challenge

Broadcast Date: May 19, 1973

Guest(s): Henry P. Tadeson

Host: Fred Davis
Panellist: Pierre Berton, Betty Kennedy, Knowlton Nash, Gordon Sinclair

Duration: 7:16

Last updated:
May 27, 2010