TRANSCRIPT

Fort Saskatchewan is one of the original homes of the mounted police, and maintains its connection with the force after more than 130 years. The North West Mounted Police, formed in 1873 to bring peace to Canada's prairies, sent a force to winter in Fort Edmonton in order to save horses and men weakened by the march west. The following spring, this force founded Fort Saskatchewan. The fort became the center of a community founded on peaceful law and order. The community grew to become a bustling town. But Fort Saskatchewan did not remain the headquarters of the mounted police for the region. G division moved to Edmonton in 1909. Fire gutted the downtown in 1913, and many young men were lost to war.

The mounted police left Fort Saskatchewan completely in 1916. Fort Saskatchewan survived, thanks to a Provincial Gaol built in 1914. But growth stopped through the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. The town police force was just one man. Then Sherritt Gordon Mines Ltd. chose to build a refinery at here in 1951, and the town boomed again. The local police force grew with the town but had trouble finding trained, reliable candidates. In 1972, Fort Saskatchewan hired the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to be its local police force once more.

Narrated by Kris Nygren