La Royal Canadian Mounted Police e il consolidamento della sovranità canadese nell'Artico durante gli anni Venti

The research examines the role played by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in consolidating Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic, with a focus on the north-eastern region between 1920 and 1926. Firstly, the article provides a historical overview of the Mounted Police, from its establishment in 1873 to the support it provided during the first two decades of the 20th century to the expeditions of Albert Peter Low, Joseph-Elzéar Bernier and Vilhjalmur Stefansson, which aimed to formally claim the entire Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Secondly, starting from an analysis of the reports written by two Mounted Police commissioners, Aylesworth Bowen Perry (1900-1922) and Cortlandt Starnes (1922-1931), the article analyses how, in an anti-Danish perspective, the RCMP consolidated its control of the eastern Arctic district between 1920 and 1926: in particular, through land and sea patrols and the creation of six RCMP detachments between Hudson Strait and Ellesmere Island (Port Burwell, Pangnirtung, Pond Inlet, Dundas Harbour, Craig Harbour, Bache Peninsula). Thirdly, the article focuses on the role played by the Mounted Police in consolidating Canadian sovereignty in the eastern Arctic district through the enforcement of Canadian laws and the administration of justice among the Inuit, with a focus on Pond Inlet trial (1923).