The latter part of the 20th century was an era of unprecedented political and social change, and that change found itself reflected in progress within Canada’s national police service.
A considerable amount of the change was overseen by Bill Spring, a former RCMP chief superintendent, who today enjoys a quiet retirement on an acreage near Princeton.
Spring joined the RCMP in 1960 after he quit high school and was turned down by the Calgary Police Department. “I was too short,” he told Black Press in a 2018 interview.
Spring worked at general duty in Kamloops, Vernon, and Port Alberni before accepting a job as an analyst, charged with reviewing files, following up on cold cases, and picking out trends in crime and policing for a large section of B.C. Later he became responsible for the service’s recruitment efforts in the province, then transferred to Ontario, where he worked in staffing and personnel.
“I was promoted to sergeant and then the Mounted Police saw fit to send me to Carleton University for three years.”
Spring graduated with degrees in sociology and psychology — he would later receive a third degree in international affairs — and his work focused on research methodology.
Women were first allowed to join the RCMP in 1974, four years after it was recommended by the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada. Two-hundred-and-ninety-two women applied, and the service accepted 32 of them who were sworn in simultaneously across the country, to avoid putting undo pressure on any one individual.
A few years later, Spring was charged with reviewing recruiting process for female officers. “It resulted in a number of changes in recruitment policy,” he said, adding that some requirements related to uniforms and “physical attributes” were rewritten.
Spring was also involved in policies paving the way for commissioning the first observant Sikh RCMP member. As commander of the RCMP training college in Regina, he had the honour of presenting the first turbaned, Sikh officer with his badge in 1991; a moment that was famously captured on film.
“[Some years ago] my daughter was in the Canadian Museum of History and she came around the corner and here was this big picture of her dad. She got all choked up.”
Baltej Singh Dhillon was living in Surrey, B.C., when he applied to the RCMP in 1988. However, he was unable to take a position owing to the tenets of his faith.
Dhillon had the support of the RCMP commissioner, but a national debate ensued that included racist speech, death threats, petitions, and legal challenges.
Dhillon became an RCMP officer in 1991 after the federal government approved changes to the service’s dress code, and he served with distinction for nearly 30 years, retiring in 2019.
Spring retired from the RCMP in 1996; 36 years to the exact day from when he joined the Force.
Married to Sandy, a noted Princeton-area artist, he enjoys helping his partner with her studio and business.
“I gave her a ring when I retired, with the Mounted Police crest on it. I said ‘The first time I gave you a ring you ended up being married to the force. Now I’m retired from the mounted police, you are married to me.’”
editorial@accjournal.ca
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