Report of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, 1909
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
9-10 EDWARD VII. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 28 A. 1910 REPORT OF THE ROYAL NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE 1909 PRINTED BY ORDER OF PARLIAMENT OTTAWA PRINTED BY C. H. PARMELEE, PRINTER TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY 1909 ' No. 28—1910] • I 9-10 EDWARD VII. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 28 A. 1910 To His Excellency the Right Honourable Sir Albert Henry George, Earl Orey, G.OM.G., &c., dco^^ Governor General 'of Canada. JIay it Please Your Excellency : The undersigned has the honour to present to Your Excellency the Annual Report of the Eoyal Northwest Mounted Police for the year 1909. Respectfully submitted, WILFRID LAURIER, President of the Council. November 10, 1909. 9-10 EDWARD VII. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 28 A. 1910 TABLE OF CONTENTS. PART I. Page. Commissioner's Report 9 Appendices to the Above. Appendix A.—Superintendent R. B. Deane, Calgary 28 B.—Superintendent C. Constantine, Maple Creek 37 C.—^Superintendent G. E. Sanders, D.S.O., Regina 41 D.—^Superintendent P. C. H. Primrose, Maeleod 64 E.—Superintendent A. R. Cuthbert, Fort Saskatchewan 81 F.—Superintendent J. O. Wilson, Lethbridge 92 G.—Superintendent J. V. Begin, Prince Albert 102 H.—Superintendent J. A. McGibbon, Battleford 112 J.—Inspector I>. M. Howard, Athabaska Landing 120 K.—Staff-Sergeant F. J. Fitzgerald, Herschell Island 130 L.—Sergeant S. E. A. Selig, Fort Macpberson 132 M.—Surgeon G. P. Bell, Regina 135 N.—Veterinary Surgeon J. F. Burnett, V.S., Regina 138 Patrol Repoets. O.—Inspector E. A. Pelletier, Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., to Ches- terfield Inlet and Fullerton, Hudson's Bay, and return to Regina via Churchill, Hudson Bay 141 P.—StaS-Sergeant F. J. Fitzgerald, Fort Macpherson to Herschel Island, winter 1908-9 169 Q.— Staff-Sergeant F. J. Fitzgerald, Herschel Island to Fort Mac- pherson, May, 1909 171 R.—Sergeant S. E. A. Selig, Herschel Island to Fort Macpherson, April, 1909 173 S.—Staff-Sergeant K. F. Anderson, Peace River Crossing to Grand Prairie, August, 1909 175 T.—Sergeant R. W. Maeleod, Fort Vermilion to Hay River, Jan. '09. ITS U.—Sergeant R. Field, Chipewyan to Fort Simpson, January, 1909.. 181 v.—Corporal II. L. ^lellor. Smith's Landing to Fort Laird, July, '09. 185 8 ROYAL NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE 9-10 EDWARD VII., A. 1910 Patrol Reports—Continued. Appendix W.—Corporal H. L. Mellor, Smith's Landing to Buffalo Country, September, 1909 187 X.—Constable W. A. Johnson, Smith's Landing to Buffalo Country, March, 1909 189 T.—Constable A. G. Gairdner, Fort Chipewyan to Buffalo Country, March, 1909 191 PART II. Strength and Distribution. Schedule A.—Summer, 1909 195 B.—September 30, 1909 200 PART m. Yukon Territory. Report of Assistant Commissioner Z. T. Wood, Commanding 207 Appendices to the above. Appendix A.— Superintendent A. E. Snyder, Whitehorse 220 B.—Inspector T. A. Wroughton, Dawson 227 C.—Constable W. J. Dempster, Patrol Dawson to Fort Maepherson. 245 D.—Surgeon L. A. Pare, Whitehorse 252 E.—Assistant Surgeon W. E. Thompson, Dawson 253 PART IV. Hudson Bay. A.—Superintendent J. D. Moodie, Report on the accidental shooting of a native at Fullerton by Constable C. R. MacMillan 257 B.—Corporal F. W. Reeves, Report on the death by drowning of Sergt. R. M. L. Donaldson off Marble Island 259 C.—Corporal M. A. Joyce, Report on Fullerton Detachment 261 D.—Assistant Surgeon O. Lacroix, M.D., Medical Report 263 PART V. Photographs. — 9-10 EDWARD VII. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 28 A. 1910 Royal Northwest Mounted Police Headquarters, Regina, November 1, 1909. To the Eight Honourable Sir Wilfrid Laurier, P.C., G.C.M.G., &c., President of the Privy Coimcil, Ottawa, Ont. Sir,—I have the honour to transmit herevrith my annual report for the year ending September 30, together with the reports of officers commanding districts of the prov- inces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, and certain other reports covering work of a special nature which may be of public interest. This report is closed this year one month earlier than last year, so that it only deals with eleven months' work, this change having been found necessary so that it may be ready for the meeting of parliament. This should be borne in mind when making any comparisons of statistics contained herein with former reports. STRENGTH AND DISTRIBUTION. On September 30 the strength of the force stood as follows:—51 officers, 600 non-commissioned officers and constables, and 558 horses. Compared with last year there is a gain of 2 constables and 35 horses. The following table gives the distribution by provinces and territories: X Com OB Oi £ ai ^Z- "3 p Constal Special f CorpoK Horses. so o Eh Alberta 18 25 132 Xi 240 248 Saskatchewan 19 29 188 31 306 278 Northwest Territories 3 5 15 5 31 Yukon Territory. , . 4 6 5 37 14 74 32 Grand total 31 1 33 46 64 372 85 651 558 In Alberta there are five divisional posts and 64 detachments; in Saskatchewan four divisional posts and 78 detaclmients ; and in the Northwest Territories one divisional post and 6 detachments; a total of 10 divisional posts and 148 detach- ments. The area covered by these detachments is very extensive, the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan and 1\ie districts of McKenzie and Keewatin in the Northwest Territories. The farthest flung detachment on the Arctic ocean is 2,500 miles from headquarters, and it takes two montlis to make the journey. 9 10 ROYAL NORTHWEST MODNTED POLICE 9-10 EDWARD VII., A. 1910 The main strength is stationed in the southern portion of the two provinces, and i8 distributed in the different districts according to the work which varies with the character of the population, and the trend of settlement. Every officer com- manding a district iinds much diiEculty in meeting the legitimate requirements of his district with the strength at his disiwsal. It is manifestly impossible to open a detachment at every village, or railway station, or in every isolated settlement They are increasing so rapidly that our strength would have to be doubled, should we meet all the demands made upon us. I have many pressing applications from points all over the provinces. I am anxious to meet every reasonable request, especially those from isolated places. I have often felt in refusing that I am doing an injury to the force, because it tends to create a sentiment in the locality that the police are not doing their full duty, and that as far as their particular locality is concerned, they are of no value. This is a mistaken view to take, but I am boimd to say a natural one. It is not always understood that there are many burdens on our shoulders be- sides, what may be termed, regular police duties; the maintenance of common jails; the escorting of all prisoners to trial; the attendance upon all criminal courts; the service of all criminal processes; and the escorting of all lunatics require many men and much time. I feel in duty bound to emphasize the fact that at the present time it is most difficult to properly perform our duties, and give satisfactory service. The development of the western provinces will go on even more rapidly than before, and the police requirements must increase. We shall be relieved to some extent of the care of prisoners in Saskatchewan in the immediate future. A new jail has been completed at Moosomin, and will be opened shortly. This province •will then have three jails. Prince Albert, Moosomin and Eegina, but I expect our guard-rooms will still be required. In Alberta, the new jail under construction at Lethbridge, will be completed in the course of a year. I understand that it is the intention of the government to commence the erection of other jails at different points. I therefore hope in the course of two years that our guard-rooms will not be used as prisons, except tem- porarily, and at very isolated points in the northern parts of the provinces. The governments of the two provinces have asked that the present arrange- ment for the employment of this force, which expires on April 1, 1911, shall be continued for another five years, that is iintil 1916. I am not aware whether the government of Canada will consent, but I venture to express the opinion that it wotild be in the interests of Canada, as well as of the provinces concerned, that the contract be renewed. CRIME. The following statistics of criminal offences do not give the total for the two provinces, because they do not include those of the cities and towns which have their own constabulary. Only indictable offences, where the accused are committed for trial, come under our notice. During the eleven months 6,888 cases were entered; convictions resulted in 5.849 cases, being 86 per cent of cases tried ; 893 cases were dismissed ; and 146 cases were awaiting trial on September 30. Allowing for the additional month of last year, there is a slight decrease this year. The following table gives a classified summary of eases entered and convictions made in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta from November 1, 1908, to September 30, 1909:— — REPORT OF COMMISSIONER PERRY IX SESSIONAL PAPER No. 28 Saskatchewan. Alberta. T5 !« 2 S Is < Offences against the person Murder § 3 Murdf r, attempted 1 2 Infanticide ... Manslaughter Thr€'atening to kill Shooting with intent 1 1 Wounding 4 2 Threatening to do bodily hami 2 2 1 1 Assault, common 449 399 48 361 291 ti aggravated 5 4 1 3 3 M causing bodily harm 11 H 1 10 5 .1 indecent 13 8 5 9 6 Ra|ie and attempted rape 17 10 5 9 3 Attempted suicide 5 5 6 4 Concealment of birth 1 1 Abortion .