RCMP Troop 17

Context

The Canadian Mountie, with red serge and Stetson hat, has long been one of country’s most iconic images. For more than 100 years, that image was exclusively male. When the RCMP’s predecessor, the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), was founded in 1873 it accepted male recruits only. It was not until 1974 that the RCMP was officially opened to women.

Yet the NWMP and RCMP (established 1920) employed women before that date in both volunteer and paid positions. In isolated detachments, Mounties’ wives were known as “The Second Man,” feeding prisoners and helping with paperwork, all unpaid. Beginning in the 1890s, the NWMP hired women as jailers or matrons to help with female prisoners. This included “Klondike Kate” (Katherine Ryan), who in February 1900 became the NWMP’s first special constable in the North-west Territories, where she helped with female prisoners and searched female gold smugglers.

The NWMP also occasionally hired women as fingerprint and lab technicians in the early 1900s. Famously, Frances McGill, who graduated from medical school in 1915, became Canada’s first female forensic pathologist. As director of Saskatchewan’s Provincial Laboratory, she was responsible for autopsies and evidence preservation for police forces and the RCMP across Saskatchewan from 1922 to 1937. In 1943, she became acting director of the RCMP’s forensic laboratory. After her retirement in 1946, McGill was appointed honorary surgeon for the RCMP.

First Female Recruits

In 1970, the Royal Commission on the Status of Women recommended that enlistment in the RCMP be open to women. Four years later, the RCMP announced that applications would be accepted for women interested in regular police duties; 292 women applied. By that time, women were already employed as police officers by municipal forces in Canada, including Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto.

On 16 September 1974, thirty-two women from across Canada — known as Troop 17 — were sworn in simultaneously as the RCMP’s first female officers. Although held at different locations across the country, the swearing-in ceremonies were done at the exact same time to avoid putting pressure of being “first” on an individual recruit. The newly minted cadets ranged in age from 19 to 29 and came from across Canada, with representatives from all provinces except PEI (there were no women recruits from the Yukon or the Northwest Territories either). Many of them were drawn from other careers, including teaching.

Their six months of training began a week later, on 23 September 1974. The women were trained at a sprawling compound in Regina, Saskatchewan, dubbed “The Depot”, which operated along military lines, with uniforms, marching and drills.

Training

For just over a century, the RCMP had been working with a single standard of training men; the Force wanted to maintain that standard with only slight modifications for the new female recruits. Since it had no experience training women, the RCMP turned to the Canadian military for help. Major Doris Toole was seconded to the RCMP to act as a liaison and to monitor the women’s training classes. She had significant experience training female recruits in a previous role at Canadian Forces Base Cornwallis, Nova Scotia.

Male recruits were required to lift 125 lbs. by the time they graduated; this was adjusted to 35 for the women. Other aspects of the training, such as firearms, self-defense, lifesaving skills, ground combat, and educational studies were largely the same, although minor alterations were made.

More dramatic changes were made to the living quarters. Barracks at the Depot had to be physically transformed: urinals were removed, and the open showers were replaced with private stalls and bathtubs. While the men lived in 32-member open rooms, the women slept in rooms of two for more privacy.

Uniforms

The uniforms provided to female cadets were different than those worn by male cadets. The Troop was first issued “fatigues” — these were overalls that looked like a mechanic’s uniform, while the men wore green pants and a jacket. The women were then issued white polyester blouses with ties and trousers with no pockets or belt loops to hold their holster. An over-the-shoulder purse contained their firearm, ammunition and handcuffs. Skirts were also part of the uniform, as were black pumps with a one-inch heel. They donned a dark blue pillbox hat with a yellow band bearing the RCMP badge, unlike the men’s forage cap. By the end of Troop 17’s training, the pants were modified with belt loops and belts. The iconic red serge “dress”’ uniform was also modified. It wasn’t until 1990 that the female uniform was dropped, and every Mountie wore the same clothing.

Media Sensation

Troop 17 was a novelty and caused a media sensation because it was history in the making. The CBC reported live the swearing-in ceremony from RMCP headquarters in Toronto, with reporter Bob Johnstone declaring, “The force that always gets its man now has women.” The RCMP granted “unprecedented access” to the media, according to Bonnie Reilly Schmidt, an RCMP officer who served from 1977 to 1987. “Journalists from across the country and around the world interviewed and photographed the women jogging, lifting weights, swimming, marching and learning how to fire revolvers.” Many wound up as front-page news. Reporters also gained access to a phone in Troop 17’s dormitory and called frequently to request interviews. When the recruits graduated on 3 March 1975, there was a heavy media presence; Canadians at home could watch the ceremony, which was televised by the CBC.

Impact

Thirty of the original 32 recruits graduated from training and were posted to RCMP detachments for police duty. (The remaining two members of Troop 17 moved to support roles within the organization.) Many went on to have long and successful careers Cheryl Joyce, for example, served 30 years in the RCMP. In her last posting as National Restorative Justice Coordinator, she traveled across the country, including 23 communities in Nunavut alone, to teach Mounties and Indigenous elders how to resolve non-criminal conflict.

In 1981, women were allowed to serve on the Musical Ride. Also in the 1980s, women were first promoted to corporal. Women were first commissioned as officers and appointed detachment commanders in the 1990s.

In 2006, the RCMP appointed its first female commissioner, Bev Busson (née MacDonald), a Troop 17 graduate. After training, Busson was posted to Salmon Arm, British Columbia, and 13 years later received her first promotion as corporal. She soon shot up the ranks and was appointed the first woman inspector in 1992 and the first woman assistant commissioner in 1998; in 2006, she became the first woman to lead the RCMP, when she was appointed the 21st commissioner. Busson spent three decades in service and was sworn in as a member of the Canadian Senate in 2018.

Troop 17 paved the way for future generations of women in national law enforcement. In 2023, women represented approximately one-fifth of the RCMP's 19,000 officers and are employed across the country. Like their male counterparts, these “Mounties” investigate serious crime, enforce international law and participate in peace operations.