On This Day » September 16, 1974

40 years of women in red serge

Thirty-two women, the first female troop, join the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

The above video, produced for and published by the RCMP in 2015, features interviews with five women – three from the first female troop and two other officers – who blazed the trail for female RCMP officers.

Today, women make up approximately one fifth of the police officers in the RCMP.

The RCMP’s first female commissioner was Bev Busson, who took the helm of the force in 2006.

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