Historic meeting during Musical Ride celebrations

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It was a time to say "thank you" and give credit where credit was due at a historic meeting which took place on a mock battlefield at the Lloydminster exhibition grounds in front of 9,000 people in early June.

It was also time - many Aboriginal people would say high time and long over-due - when, during an historic reenactment, a large column of North West Mounted Police rode into "a Cree tipi village" and formally asked permission from the Native leaders to enter their ancestral territory and set up camp.

With both politeness and exaggerated deference, all the time, some observers would say, peeling a little bit of the whitewash off of Canadian history, the RCMP publicly acknowledged the help and direction given to the NWMP by the original inhabitants of these ancient lands.

Back then, it was a matter of life and death, explained RCMP Inspector John Gaudet.

"Without the help of the Metis and our connection with the First Nations, we would never have survived," said Gaudet, the man currently in charge of Canada's famous RCMP Musical Ride.

It was a colorful extravaganza that delighted two sell-out crowds in one day as members of the Onion Lake Dance Troupe whooped it up with Manitoba's NWMP Queen's Cowboys, Saskatchewan's Phantom Riders and the Musical Ride of the RCMP.

Canons boomed, hooves thundered and drums pounded at the historic Northwest Mounted Police March West/Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride show that stopped in Lloydminster.

The historical irony of the March West is built-in and in-your-face.

One hundred twenty-five years ago, Prime Minister John A. MacDonald needed a strong contingent of soldier-policemen to help settle and keep peace in the West. Whiskey traders were making a killing by dumping rot gut liquor on the Native population in a place called Fort Whoop-up and needed to be "arrested." In 1874, hundreds of new recruits joined what would come to be known as the great March West, a military encampment on hooves and wheels winding its way across 900 miles of untamed Prairie.

And like the raw, inexperienced Barr Colonists who settled the Lloydminster area in the early part of the 1900s, the enthusiastic but naive troop of newly recruited Mounties and their military mounts were definitely not ready to take on the harsh reality and unknown terrain of Western Canada. Brand new hand-tailored uniforms with shiny buttons, polished leather boots and soft horses unused to the rigors of the trail would prove no match for a harsh and unforgiving wilderness.

The troops of men who had been sent out West to "save the Natives" from the whiskey traders had to themselves, in turn, be saved from starvation, exposure and the extreme disorientation of being "strangers in a strange land" by the very people they had come out to protect. Fresh faced young officers who had a hard time keeping their horses alive, let alone themselves, quickly learned that there were no better scouts and hunters alive than the Native people who so willingly shared their expertise with the struggling troops.

Without the help of the Cree, Sioux and the legendary Metis scout Jerry Potts, the whole misadventure would have been a total wreck.

The reenactment of the March West, which started out in Emerson, Man. on May 8 via two routes, is passing through Fort Carleton, Fort Battleford, St. Walburg, Elk Point to Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. on the north route and from Manitoba through Estevan, Gravelbourg, Maple Creek, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge in the south ending in Fort Macleod. Slated to pass through Edam, Turtleford and Paradise Hill, the March West will also help open Onion Lake's pow wow.

After the VIPs, including prominent Elders from Onion Lake, were driven around the stadium field in a horse drawn wagon, the RCMP Musical Ride show opened with a flag raising, O Canada and an honor drum song by Mistawasis First Nations drummers and singers. A splendid display of traditional dancing was followed by the reenactment of the trek throug Onion Lake by the Queen's Cowboys.

Hoots of laughter and cheering from the crowd in the Exhibition stands greeted the reenactment of a chase, capture and hog-tying of a whiskey trader played by Captain Gary MacDonald.

Two canon shots from a nine-pounder were followed by a tribute paid to the First RCMP Musical Ride by the all-female troupe, the Phantom Riders. Thirty-six members of the RCMP Musical Ride performed the Regimental March Out and the flag lowering was accompanied by a Cree honor song.

Backstage in the stables, members of the public were invited to meet and greet the riders, horses and performers, while tack was being cleaned up and the horses were being groomed, obviously enjoying the well-earned attention, treats and rest in their stalls.

"It is not easy to become a member of the RCMP Musical Ride", said Gaudet.

"It is difficult to be accepted, quite an honor to represent Canada on a national and international level. The tour of duty lasts three years for each officer and about nine for the horses. We use the older horses to train people and keep a full stable of 180 animals, 36 traveling with the show. The force has its own in-house ferriers and leathermaker and we take very special care of our horses. RCMP members can be replaced, horses can't. They are our No. 1 priority, equine ambassadors in the most recognized public relations organization in Canada, known all over the world," added Gaudet.

At the age of 31, Dino Norris, a Cree-Inuit from Fort MacMurray, is the only Aboriginal member of the Musical Ride. A police officer for 11 years, Norris had never ridden a horse in his life before joining the equestrian force.

"For me it was a unique experience, coming from the Northwest Territories where there are no horses at all. My horse is named Jake and he is the biggest horse on the ride at this time. You must be in great shape, both rider and horse, very athletic to handle life on the road, living out of a suitcase day in and day out. I get a very arm response from Native people in every town we ride in, one of the most rewarding things about my job."

Norris, who is being transferred to an RCMP restorative justice program in British Columbia at the end of his three year stint with the ride, says that being a police officer in the Musical Ride is a very unique experience, a whole new chance to deal with the general public.

"A a member of the RCMP Musical Ride, I get to see the positive side of people. With regular force we deal with the more negative side of police work. This job is more proactive than reactive. As a police officer, I'm in for the long haul and looking forward to being a positive role model in the restorative justice setting in B.C., helping to set up community justice within Native communities as someone our own people can trust and relate to. My two years on the ride have been positive, rewarding and fun and I would encourage anyone, if given the opportunity, to try it."