Today In Canadian History July 13: Order in the West: The North-West Territories Act of 1875

Five years after Canada acquired the vast expanse of Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company, the challenge was no longer acquisition, but governance. On this day, July 13, 1875, the Canadian government passed the North-West Territories Act, a foundational piece of legislation that created the first distinct government for the sprawling territories and set the course for western development.

This act replaced a temporary measure from 1869 and established a more formal system of administration. It created the office of a resident Lieutenant-Governor and an appointed council to assist him, moving the seat of government from Winnipeg to a new, designated capital (eventually settled at Battleford, then Regina). The Act also laid the groundwork for the future. It provided for the creation of electoral districts and a legislative assembly once the population reached a certain density, paving the way for eventual provincial status.

Crucially, the 1875 Act also formally established the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), the precursor to the RCMP, giving legal standing to the force that had been created two years prior. It also contained provisions for the administration of justice and the establishment of schools. While it advanced the government's goal of asserting sovereignty and encouraging settlement, it did so by imposing a southern, central-Canadian model of governance on a region with its own deep Indigenous and Métis histories and traditions, a tension that would define the story of the Canadian West for decades to come.