Regina - Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Museum

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Museum is located in the west of Regina at the RCMP Academy. Both the Sergeant Major's Parade; venue: Parade Square or, in winter or bad weather, the Drill Hall) and the Sunset Retreat (summer) attract large crowds. The latter, a colorful lowering the flag ceremony involving a parade of recruits and a marching band, was re-introduced to mark the centenary of the force. It harks back to the tattoos of the 18th c. and to 19th c. British military tradition.

The museum, which attracts over 250,000 visitors a year, is Canada's largest devoted to the Mounties and includes items of equipment, weaponry, uniforms, photographs, archive material, personal effects and memorabilia. One theme of the museum is the history of the force from its foundation to the present day, setting it in the context of Canada's development as a nation. Another theme is the celluloid image of the RCMP as portrayed in innumerable Hollywood films about the Mounties. Famous personalities and historic events are also featured in the museum, among them Chief Sitting Bull who took refuge in Saskatchewan after the massacre of Custer and his men at the Little Big Horn. A substantial part of the museum is given over to the North West Rebellion of 1885 and its leader Louis Riel. Other items on display include Red Indian artifacts and clothing. The large, painted buffalo skin on which an entire history is recorded in pictographs is one of the most valuable of its kind in Canada.

The historic RCMP chapel, one of the oldest buildings in Regina, is also well worth a visit. Built in 1883, it was partly destroyed by fire in 1895. Following restoration it was turned into a chapel, made particularly attractive by the contrast between the richness and variety of its splendid stained glass windows and the simplicity of the basic structure and original pews. Finest of all are the two superbly colored windows behind the altar depicting red-uniformed Mounties. One is dedicated to the many police wives who played such an important role in their husbands' absence on duty, manning telephones and taking care of prisoners.