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Red Deer and the
Law, 1900-20
by Jonathan Swainger
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Uprooting one's family and setting out for western Canada during the
40 years after 1880 was a momentous decision. Even for those who were
reasonably well-heeled or properly prepared for what awaited them, the journey
and the life which followed on the prairies would be, to say the least, an
extraordinary challenge. Although many carefully packed those belongings they
believed necessary to reconstruct their lives in the Canadian West, those who
came from central and eastern Canada unconsciously imported one of the most
important articles of the lives and communities they had left behind. Along with
their quilts, family bibles, and butter churns, they brought familiar notions of
law, order and civility.1 Thus, although the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP)
shouldered the burden of establishing the presence of Canadian law on the
Prairies, it was equally true that the homesteaders and community leaders played
a crucial role in defining the substance and meaning of law and order in the
years before 1920.
The intersection of Red Deer's history and the legal system can be viewed
from a number of different perspectives. First, the Methodist founders who
envisioned, and then later built, the central Alberta community of Red Deer,
took their responsibilities seriously. They believed they were not merely
settlers, but were working to create "... one of the finest places on our earth
for humanity to dwell in."2 An important component of this vision was the
expectation that the law could provide the same stability that it had "back
home." This stability was crucial, for without it, the upheaval of moving, the
unpredictable nature of a pioneering economy, the rudimentary transportation and
communication links, and the unfamiliarity of diverse peoples and cultures in
western Canada would be overwhelming. In theory, the law and its practitioners
could provide community leadership, uphold proper character and morality, insure
business transactions, and provide a haven when events spun out of control.3 Although time eroded these expectations, the first
20 years of the 20th
century demonstrated that lawyers and legal remedies occupied a crucial role in
the establishment of Red Deer and central Alberta.
Second, although the police, justices of the peace (JP), and members of the
legal profession assumed roles as community leaders and builders, the influence
of the law was not limited to observable examples of good works and fulfilment
of duty. Acquiring a legal function for Red Deer implied a great deal, not only
in how it symbolized the community's claim to pre-eminence in the Parkland but,
more importantly, in how a court house, law offices, and the intermingling of
law and business provided Red Deer with an identity and purpose other than that
of just another farm community. In pursuit of it's identity, as early as 1900 Red
Deer attempted to be designated the centre of a new judicial district. Although
initially unsuccessful, efforts were redoubled in 1907 when individuals such as
John A. Moore and J. J. Gaetz endeavoured to get a sub-judicial district centred
at Red Deer recognized by the Attorney General's office in Edmonton. Officially
denied once again, Red Deer nevertheless assumed this role, despite the fact the
district was not be proclaimed until 1914. This acquisition not only confirmed
that legal business had been gravitating towards Red Deer since 1900 but, for
local leaders, it testified to the community's prominence in many aspects of
central Alberta life.4
Beneath these characteristics that broadly defined the role of law within the
Parkland, existed the human reality of the legal system — police, justices of
the peace, lawyers, court officials, and judges. To these individuals fell the
responsibility of not only creating the order and stability which most citizens
expected of the legal system, but also, for example, reconciling popular notions
with policing realities. On two occasions the Gaetz family levied a complaint
against Sergeant Dunning, in command of the NWMP detachment at Red Deer. The
substance of the concern was that Dunning failed to protect "... the respectable
portion of the citizenry, by which they meant themselves." Subsequent
investigations led prominent criminal lawyer P. J. Nolan to offer the view "...
that the Gaetz family resented the police because the police insisted on
treating them exactly as they did everyone else in the community."5
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