North-West Mounted Police in the Canadian north

[1] In 1894 a growing population and gold mining at Forty Mile, led to calls from Church and business leaders for Ottawa to intervene to control whisky trading, protect the local Indians and gather customs duties.

Miners streamed from Forty Mile to the new town of Dawson and, once word got out to the external world the next year, around 100,000 more rushed to the region in search of gold.

[15][b] Constantine moved quickly to establish a base in the Klondike in 1896, but the small detachment soon became overwhelmed and requested urgent reinforcements from the east.

[21] The NWMP enforced new rules requiring that travellers bring a year's supply of food with them to be allowed into the Yukon, checked for illegal weapons, prevented the entry of criminals and collected customs duties.

[22] The NWMP also helped protect and guide the flow of migrants, evacuating many in late 1897 when food in the Yukon ran out, managing their safety en route, mediating in their disputes and providing practical advice.

[23] The NWMP played a major part in both law enforcement during the gold rush, managing the boom town of Dawson City and patrolling out across the Yukon Territory using a network of 33 posts.

[28] Zaslow has described the Yukon as effectively "a police state" during this period, and Morrison notes their paternalistic willingness to invent non-existent laws when they considered it necessary.

[29] The NWMP acted efficiently and with probity during the period, although their task was helped by the geography of the Klondike, which made it relatively easy to bar entry to undesirables or prevent suspects from leaving the region.

[30] When the force deployed to the Yukon, however, it discovered that labourers were earning up to ten times as much as a constable, even with hardship pay included, leading to serious morale and retention problems.

[32] Near the Mackenzie Delta, in the Beaufort Sea, on Herschel Island, concerns were raised over the possible sexual abuse of the local Inuit by the transient American whaling community.

[39] There were logistical problems with extending the police presence across the region, requiring the creation of posts and the acquisition of a steamer to move supplies.