The Mountie from Dime Novel to Disney by Michael Dawson

Author:Michael Dawson [Dawson, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Popular Culture
ISBN: 9781896357164
Google: _tN8HC4opeMC
Publisher: Between the Lines
Published: 1998-01-15T05:31:02+00:00

The story produced and repeated throughout the centennial celebrations told a new and specific story that differed greatly from the classic tale. Having obtained the Northwest Territories from the Hudson's Bay Company, the nascent Canadian nation sought to open up this area for settlement. Unfortunately, “Conditions were not conducive to orderly settlement.” American whiskey traders, Fenian raiders, and the smallpox epidemic all conspired to threaten the peaceful growth of the Canadian nation. Established to knit the West into Confederation, the Force's chief aim was to win the confidence of the Native peoples. Scrupulously avoiding “strong-arm methods,” the Force gained the respect of the Natives peoples, and “Native chiefs visited the Force, first in curiosity, afterwards in full confidence of Canada's intentions.”5 Often, the new narrative said, all that the Mounties had to do to gain this respect was to arrive in their scarlet and gold. When, for example, the Force arrived near Fort Carlton, in what is now Saskatchewan, “French half-breeds” were contemplating a separate government: the Mounties' appearance “at the scene of the threatened disaffection at once made apparent the authority of the crown.”6

With positive Native-White relations ensured, the Force turned its efforts towards helping settlers. The Force carried out a multitude of duties not normally identified with a police force and did so consistently and with determination. Whether monitoring settlement on the Prairies or in the Yukon, the Force ensured that order and the rule of law prevailed.

Throughout its history, the new story argued, the Force had always been involved in protecting Canadian (not Imperial) sovereignty. This was particularly true of the Force's duties in the Far North. Through almost superhuman determination, the members of the Force completed Arctic patrols, mapping out the land and battling the elements in sub-zero weather—all to bring Canadian law to the North. Whatever their duties and wherever they were stationed, members of the Force made use of the most up-to-date technology. Far from being a romantic relic of the past, the Force was always open to new ideas and new technology in its attempt to enforce the law. This was as true of the early days as it was of the present Force.

This 1973 revision of the Mountie story was, in its avoidance of jarring ethnic generalities, a more tolerant and inclusive narrative than the classic version. Whereas the classic Mountie was a lone officer of the law enforcing order so that possessive individualism might triumph, the new Mountie was a New Liberal upholding a more general, community-generated agenda and owing allegiance to the wider organic community of “Canada.” Here the organizers traded in the mythology of classical laissez-faire liberalism in favour of a new mythology that stressed a kinder, gentler liberalism. This New Liberalism lauded social and economic intervention by the government in an attempt to maintain agreed-upon community standards.

Throughout the new narrative, the police were always referred to as “the Force,” a seemingly innocuous tide (and one commonly used by its members). However, “the Force” carried with it connotations of

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