I love Canadian history—I'm a student of history—and that's a great question. Thank you very much for it.
As I understand, the reason the Government of Canada took that brave...and it was brave. It was a very controversial decision to direct the RCMP, which is not just any police agency. It's probably the most recognized police agency in the world. In policing communities, it's pretty much police royalty. It's tied to the national identity.
Really, the feminist activists of the sixties forced the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada in 1967. They met for three years. That was the first time a woman had chaired it. They came up with 167 recommendations, and number 54 was to direct the RCMP to accept women. This was a bipartisan issue—as it always should be—and the Government of Canada stepped up and adopted and set up the status of women.... It directed the RCMP to do that.
The RCMP didn't seem to be in a big hurry to do it, because it really didn't implement it until we got Commissioner Nadon in 1974. That was at the same time the OPP were directed by the provincial government to open their ranks to women. It was a political decision that forced something that in society was....
I mean, I lived through it. I'm a baby boomer. I understand. It was a very macho society. Everybody knew that police work was a man's job. You had to be not just a man; you had to be a big and tough man. You were fighting with men all the time. How could women possibly do such a difficult job?
This was really pushing feminism all the way down the road.