The progressive convergence of the military and policing ethos in post-millennial Canada /

Our national police force, the North West Mounted Police, precursor to the RCMP, protected Parliament in the east and brought order to the aboriginal and fur-trading population in the west in preparation for the immigrant surge of populations developing the prairies and the west coast. [...] Rather, in the second half of the 19th century it became entrenched in Canada, permeating the country and, in particular, its political, economic and military elites.2 In Canada the pivotal year of 1871 was marked, from a military standpoint, by the pacification of the border with the United States, which has endured to this day. [...] For most of the Cold War, the Canadian Army consisted of four mechanized brigades, one permanently stationed in Germany, the other three garrisoned in Canada.5 From the end of the Second World War until the late 1950s, the part-time militia or reserves were twice the size of the professional army. [...] A Task Force on Labour Relations, struck in the early 1970s by the federal government, found that the intervention of the RCMP has throughout Canadian history been felt with enough force to tip the scales of battle in hundreds of strikes and labour demonstrations.35 The RCMP has frequently been deployed by the federal government to protect the Canadian Pacific Railroad, or its federally owned land [...] In the middle, notes one source, who equates the professionalism of the Canadian soldier with his/her commitment to the concept of ‘unlimited liability’ – the dedication of one’s efforts, and life, to the protection of one’s country and its civilians.52 Infusing that commitment is Janowitz’s insistence that the civilian sector must set the professional standards, his ‘constabulary’ model complete