Ric Hall’s Photo Corner

For this week’s Photo Corner, Ric has selected the theme of “1950: A milestone was achieved.”

On February 1, 1920, the Royal North-West Mounted Police took over the roles and responsibilities of the Dominion Police.  In so doing, the Force became the Canadian federal police agency responsible for the enforcement of all federal statutes.

With the allegations of political interference with the Saskatchewan Provincial Police, the Saskatchewan government contracted with the federal government to have the RCMP takeover the provincial policing duties from the Saskatchewan Provincial Police (SPP).  The date of the takeover was June 1928.  Many of the SPP members were absorbed into the RCMP.

Then in 1932, the federal government successfully negotiated to the have RCMP takeover the provincial policing responsibilities from:

 Alberta Provincial Police;

Manitoba Provincial Police;

Nova Scotia Provincial Police;

New Brunswick Provincial Police; and

Prince Edward Island Provincial Police.

On August 1, 1950, the Newfoundland Rangers were also taken over by the RCMP.

Fourteen days later, the British Columbia Provincial Police followed the fate of the other provincial police forces by being taken over by the RCMP on August 15, 1950.

As was a part of all of these amalgamation agreements, the RCMP would take on the members of the provincial police force which they were absorbing.  In so doing, the RCMP waived their marriage restrictions for provincial police members who were already married.  For the BC Provincial Police, 492 members were sworn into the RCMP and most received their preliminary RCMP training at the Fairmount Barracks in Vancouver.

To supplement the 492 ex-BC Provincial Police members, the RCMP transferred many Force members from across Canada to British Columbia to establish a Force presence.  Five subdivisions were established: Victoria, Vancouver, Kamloops, Nelson and Prince George.  The number of Detachments totaled 124.

With the takeover of the BC Provincial Police, the RCMP achieved a milestone of providing provincial policing duties in all provinces of Canada with the exception of Ontario and Quebec.

1950 – Illustration which appeared in the RCMP Quarterly magazine outlining the expanded jurisdiction of the Force. (Source of image – Ric Hall’s Photo Collection)

1950 – Photograph of an RCMP member taking down a BC Provincial Police sign and replacing it with an RCMP Sign. (Source of photo – RCMP Quarterly).

One of the ex-BC Provincial Police members who became an RCMP member was Leslie Excell (RCMP Reg. #16417).  The terms of his engagement are outlined in the three paged letter below.

The following is a photograph of some of the ex-BC Provincial Police members now in their new RCMP uniform.  Photograph was taken at the RCMP’s Fairmount Barracks in Vancouver, BC.

1950 – Photograph of ex-BC Provincial Police member in their new RCMP uniforms. Photo was taken at the Fairmount Barracks in Vancouver. Leslie Excell is shown circled in red. (Source of photo – Ric Hall’s Photo Collection).

Photograph of Leslie Excell’s RCMP Discharge Certificate (Source of the photo – Ric Hall’s Photo Collection).

The ex-BC Provincial Police members all contributed to the RCMP’s efforts to combat crime and to promote safe communities throughout the province of British Columbia.

Leslie’s son – Brian Excell provided the photographs and documents for this webpage.  We thank Brian for sharing his father’s documents with us.

If you have old Force photographs which you would like to be included in a forthcoming Photo Corner, please email Ric Hall at rshall69@shaw.ca.  Ric will scan the photographs and documents then return the originals to you.