Mountie Makers: Putting the Canadian in RCMP

Steven R. Hewitt is an assistant professor of history at the University
of Saskatchewan.

Robert Gordon Teather strikes again. The Mountie turned author has
produced his third in a series of books that purport to offer an
insider’s view of the RCMP. The book, described as “creative
non-fiction,” documents the training Teather and other members of his
“troop” underwent in Regina 30 years ago. As was the case in the
previous titles, the story is designed to play on the reader’s
emotions.

In addition to stereotypical characters, the book is marred by the
blurred line between fact and fiction. Teather admits in his preface
that he has taken “certain liberties” with real-life events, but
then tries to promote the book, in the same vein as his publisher does,
as an authoritative account. Most troubling of all is his tendency to
glamorize the violence that apparently occurred during his training.