The NWMP was established by the Canadian government during the ministry of Prime Minister Sir John Macdonald who defined its purpose as “the preservation of peace and the prevention of crime” in the vast NWT.
Macdonald’s principal fear was that the activities of American traders which led to the Cypress Hills Massacre would lead to the First nations peoples killing American traders, which would lead to the United States military being deployed into the NWT to protect the lives of American citizens under the grounds that Canada was unable to maintain law and order in the region. His greatest fear was that if the Americans occupied the NWT that they would not leave and the region would be annexed to the United States.

The NWMP was established in 1873, and were deployed to the area of the present Alberta border. Their ill-planned and arduous journey of nearly 900 miles became known as the March West, and is portrayed as an epic journey of endurance.
Over the next few years, the NWMP established a wide network of forts, posts and patrols and extended Canadian law across the region. The living conditions of the NWMP on the prairies were spartan and often uncomfortable, and only slowly improved over the course of the century.

Colonel George French was the commissioner of this new force, and was ordered to proceed west from Fort Dufferin to deal with what the authorities described as the “band of desperadoes” around Fort Whoop-Up, before then dispersing his force to establish police posts stretching across the territories.

(RCMP USED UNDER LICENCE)