The Muskox Patrol: High Arctic Sovereignty Revisited

Abstract

... Canadian government activities in the High Arctic between 1900 and 1933 were carried out almost exclusively in response to the real or perceived intentions of other nations to challenge Canada's sovereignty claims. ... For 11 years, between 1922 and 1933, a small group of dedicated RCMP officers and their Native assistants had served to safeguard Canadian sovereignty against foreigners to the High Arctic islands. ... "The Muskox Patrol" is the story of the complex web of political events that culminated in sending the Mounties to the High Arctic. Perhaps surprisingly, the connecting thread in the web turned out to be muskoxen. For the first two decades following the 1880 transfer of the Arctic islands from Great Britain to Canada, Ottawa paid scant attention to the legality of the possession. The first jolt to the government's complacency was delivered from Norway .... For centuries, American and European whalers and explorers had frequented Arctic waters at will, living off the land and the seas as they saw fit, even operating land-based stations when it was convenient. Occasional protests by the Hudson's Bay Company had been ignored. ... the Canadian government realized that historical paper claims to land were a poor substitute for effective occupation .... The 1903 establishment of police authority on Herschel Island in the western Arctic was to be followed by extension of similar authority in the central and eastern Arctic. In the spring of 1903, the "Neptune" expedition sailed north under the command of A.P. Low .... In 1904, the "Neptune" sailed north to Cape Herschel on Ellesmere Island and later into Lancaster Sound and Pond Inlet. ... The Canadian flag was being planted in the eastern Arctic. ... In 1904, the "Arctic" entered Hudson Bay on the first of four extensive voyages into the Arctic islands. On subsequent voyages, Captain Bernier, government officials, and police officers travelled throughout the Arctic islands, placing official Canadian declarations of possession in large stone cairns.... As the years went by, the High Arctic sovereignty issue had become a personal quest for Bernier, just as pushing the Norwegian claim had become a life's struggle for Sverdrup. ... High Arctic sovereignty concerns slipped off the Canadian government's agenda until January 1920. In July 1922, Captain Bernier brought the "Arctic" north, loaded with building materials, supplies, and men to be stationed in some of the most remote outposts in the far North, lands that had not been occupied by Inuit for several hundred years. ... An Inuit family from Pond Inlet agreed to accompany the RCMP officers to a post yet to be established and remain for their first wintering. ... Lee's (1928) account shows how much the presence of Inuit families at the detachments meant to the RCMP officers in the High Arctic. Many of the young constables learned to communicate tolerably well in Inuktitut. ... From the outset, it had been the government's objective to establish a detachment on the shores of Bache Peninsula, at the entrance to Flagler Bay. ... A small hut was erected, with a sign board proclaiming the presence of the Kane Basin RCMP Detachment. ...The "Arctic" proceeded to the south coast of Devon Island, where the Dundas Harbour Detachment ... was established. ... Among the many Inughuit assistants who served with the RCMP in the High Arctic, the name of Nookapingwa is very prominent. ... he served practically throughout the entire first period of the RCMP presence in the High Arctic between 1924 and 1933. ... Our Muskox Patrol story ends with the closing of the Bache Detachment in 1933. ... Canada's concerns about the legality of its sovereignty claim to the High Arctic did not end there. However, the immediate challenge had been dealt with effectively through the huge efforts of the RCMP personnel and their Inughuit assistants from Greenland.