<P> The Canadian border along the southern edge of Alberta was occupied by the Blackfoot Confederacy, a First Nation whose economy was based on hunting bison . The Blackfoot had suffered badly from smallpox, and were under increasing pressure from rival groups of Sioux and Piegans that had crossed into Canada, fleeing the expansion of the United States military across the southern plains . Whiskey - traders from the United States had come across the border, selling alcohol to the aboriginal peoples, fuelling social problems and outbreaks of violence . Although the region remained relatively safe, there was no civil government, and military explorers highlighted the "lawlessness" and lack of "security for life or property" that resulted from the absence of a formal justice system . </P> <P> In 1869, the Canadian Prime Minister, Sir John Macdonald, made plans to create a 200 - strong mounted police force to maintain order along the border; such a force, he thought, would enable the colonisation of the region and be much cheaper than deploying regular military units for the task . The implementation of this proposal was delayed, however, first by the rebellion of the Métis, and then by the threat of a Fenian invasion . Meanwhile, a survey conducted in 1871 by Lieutenant William Butler recommended establishing a mounted force of up to 150 men under a magistrate or commissioner, based along the northern trade routes, leaving the border area as a liminal, ungarrisoned zone . Colonel Patrick Robertson - Ross conducted another survey in 1872, and recommended an alternate strategy of recruiting a larger force of 550 men who would be tasked to push south into the border region itself and establish law and order there . </P> <P> Sir John Macdonald acquired approval for his new force on May 23, 1873, after Parliament, following a cursory debate, passed the Mounted Police Act into law unopposed . At this point, Macdonald appears to have intended to create a force of mounted police to watch "the frontier from Manitoba to the foot of the Rocky Mountains", probably with its headquarters in Winnipeg . He was heavily influenced by the model of the Royal Irish Constabulary, which combined aspects of a traditional military unit with the judicial functions of the magistrates' courts, and believed that the new force should be able to provide a local system of government in otherwise ungoverned areas . Originally, Macdonald also had wanted to form units of Métis policemen, commanded by white Canadian officers in a similar manner to the British Indian Army, but he was forced to abandon this approach after the Métis revolt of 1870 called their loyalty into question . </P> <P> In June 1873, around 30 members of the Assiniboine First Nation were killed in the Cypress Hills Massacre, creating a national furore . In response, Macdonald used a Privy Council order to enact the new legislation, formally creating the North - West Mounted Police with the intention of mobilising the force and deploying it early the next year . A report then arrived from Alexander Morris, the Lieutenant Governor of the North - West Territories, blaming the massacre on the activities of whiskey traders at Fort Whoop - Up; Morris predicted that if action was not taken immediately, there would be a major uprising by the First Nations across the region, into which the United States might choose to intervene . Macdonald was not entirely convinced by the governor's analysis, but nonetheless he agreed to recruit 150 men and send them west to Lower Fort Garry before winter weather blocked the route . </P>

When were the north west mounted police established