A Textual Analysis of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Arctic
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University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020-08 Stallworthy of the Mounted: A Textual Analysis of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Arctic Presence, 1923-1935 Heumann, Michelle Heumann, M. (2020). Stallworthy of the Mounted: a textual analysis of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Arctic presence, 1923-1935 (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/112411 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Stallworthy of the Mounted: A Textual Analysis of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Arctic Presence, 1923-1935 by Michelle Heumann A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN HISTORY CALGARY, ALBERTA AUGUST 2020 © Michelle Heumann 2020 2 Abstract On the surface, this thesis explores a few incidents in the life of an individual Mountie, Harry Stallworthy. However, in depth it examines how Stallworthy’s work intersected with Canadian sovereignty and colonialism in a period of Canadian history when representations of Canadian icons (the North and the Mountie) were of great importance. It also develops a framework that could be used to analyze texts found in many archival fonds. This thesis investigates the way RCMP officer Harry Stallworthy wrote differently for different audiences about the experiences he had while supporting the Canadian government’s attempts to establish control over the Arctic in the 1920s and 30s. 3 Acknowledgements Thank you to my thesis supervisors, Dr. George Colpitts and Dr. Karen Routledge, whose input, suggestions, and critique have been invaluable. I’m very grateful to have had the support and encouragement of two such excellent historians in making this thesis a reality. The History Department offered many interesting classes, and I particularly benefited from the Canadian history classes I took from Dr. Heather Devine and Dr. David Marshall. As well, the support of the Coutts Family Western Canadian Graduate History Scholarship and the Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship were both much appreciated. During my undergrad years, I had classes with three English professors (Dr. Stefania Forlini, Dr. Jenny McKenney, and Dr. Jason Wiens) who had a special interest in archival research, and who introduced their classes to the University of Calgary Archives and Special Collections. This not only led me to the inspiration for this thesis, but also led to a period of contract work in the archives, where I learned even more about archival research from the talented and hard-working staff in Archives and Special Collections, which has been a major highlight of my time on campus. When I told my husband Trevor that I wanted to quite my steady full-time job and go to university, he didn’t hesitate to be supportive. While neither of us had any idea how long this journey was going to take, all along the way he’s worked hard to provide for us, and I couldn’t have done this without him. I am very thankful for his patient support! 4 Dedication This thesis is dedicated to the memory of my dad, Rick Bennetts, who passed away very suddenly, right when this project was to have been weeks from completion. During the period I was usually on campus writing in the Alan MacDonald Graduate Commons in the library, he would regularly come to buy me lunch at the Last Defence Lounge. It’s a period of study and spending time with Dad that I was very privileged to have. 5 Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................Page 2 Acknowledgments..................................................................................................................Page 3 Dedication ..............................................................................................................................Page 4 Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................Page 5 Introduction ............................................................................................................................Page 6 Chapter 1: RCMP Wives at Chesterfield Inlet, 1923 to 1924...............................................Page 33 Chapter 2: The Narratives of Arctic Patrols..........................................................................Page 61 Chapter 3: The Oxford University Expedition to Ellesmere Island......................................Page 84 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................Page 120 Appendix 1: Chesterfield Inlet Daily Diary from the day Maggie Clay was injured.........Page 125 Appendix 2: Excerpt from Stallworthy’s letter to Bill regarding the newspaper articles.................................................................................................................................Page 126 Appendix 3: Stallworthy’s official report regarding falling into the crevasse....................Page 128 Appendix 4: Stallworthy’s letter to Bill regarding Nowya’s vision...................................Page 129 Appendix 5: Pages from Stallworthy’s Chesterfield Inlet manuscript................................Page 131 Appendix 6: An excerpt from Stallworthy’s draft of his Oxford Expedition article..........Page 133 Appendix 7: An excerpt from Stallworthy’s official report on the Oxford Expedition......Page 134 Bibliography: Primary Unpublished Sources......................................................................Page 135 Bibliography: Primary Published Sources..........................................................................Page 137 Bibliography: Secondary Sources.......................................................................................Page 139 6 Introduction On July 24, 1923, Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Harry Stallworthy wrote to his mother, who lived in England, from aboard the S.S. Nascopie , en route to his first eastern Arctic posting. He informed her that “the accommodation is very good on the boat very English, nearly all the crew (55 men) are from England. The meals are very good indeed, we even get tea before getting up in the morning and afternoon tea and cake. And a cup of cocoa and biscuits before going to bed.” 1 This focus on homeland and traditional food illustrates the paradox of Stallworthy’s Englishness and remind the reader of his British imperial perspective as he went north to enforce Canadian sovereignty. Stallworthy’s remarks reflect the fact that Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) service, linked to Canada’s sovereignty, was often carried out by individuals of British origin, rooted in the identities and habits of home. But his letter to his mother is also an example of how a Mountie who wrote to multiple audiences—official, popular, and personal—left a written record communicating different facets of his Eurocentric identity, values, and assumptions. Reading Stallworthy’s records of his time at Chesterfield Inlet and on Ellesmere Island, and autobiographies of other Mounties who served in the North around the same period, makes it clear that sovereignty and colonialism in Canada’s Arctic are inextricably linked, and that southern ideas of Arctic sovereignty are, at their most basic, based on people of European descent 2 surviving a challenging and unfamiliar environment in pursuit of what people understood to be ‘effective occupation.’ Stallworthy left multiple narratives about his most 1 Harry Stallworthy to Mother, 24 July 1923, Box 1, Folder 15, Harry Stallworthy Fonds 1895-2002, Arctic Institute of North America, University of Calgary Archives and Special Collections. 2 After Stallworthy’s time, the government also attempted to establish sovereignty by relocating southern Inuit communities further north. See: The Qikiqtani Truth Commission, Community Histories 1950-1957: Grise Fiord (Ausuittuq) (Iqaluit, NU: Inhabit Media, 2013). The Qikiqtani Truth Commission, Community Histories 1950-1957: Resolute Bay (Qausuittuq) (Iqaluit, NU: Inhabit Media, 2013). Frank J. Tester and Peter Keith Kulchyski, Tammarniit (Mistakes): Inuit Relocation in the Eastern Arctic, 1939-63 (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1994). Alan R. Marcus, Relocating Eden: The Image and Politics of Inuit Exile in the Canadian Arctic (Hanover, N.H.: Dartmouth College, 1995). Lyle Dick, Muskox Land: Ellesmere Island in the Age of Contact (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2001). 7 formative northern experiences, framing these events differently for different purposes and at different times. In a few cases, other authors also published their own accounts of Stallworthy’s experiences. A textual analysis of writings by and about Stallworthy—including letters, RCMP reports, lectures, and popular accounts—allows for consideration of the process by which complicated human experiences in the North are narrated, reframed, and turned into iconic stories, which in turn have been used to reinforce Canadian