Royal Canadian Mounted Police Long Service Medal

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Long Service Medal
Obverse and reverse of the medal
Awarded by the monarch of Canada
Type	Long service and Good Conduct medal
Eligibility	Officer, Non-Commissioned Officer or Constables of the RCMP
Awarded for	No less than 20 years of irreproachable service
Status	Currently awarded
Statistics
Established	6 March 1934
First awarded	1935
Precedence
Next (higher)	Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
Next (lower)	Canadian Forces Decoration
Ribbon bar of the medal

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Long Service Medal was established by royal warrant on 6 March 1934 by King George V. It is the oldest continually awarded honour within the Canadian honours system, and the first created specifically for Canadian service within Canada. Initially proposed by the Royal Northwest Mounted Police Veterans’ Association, it took more than ten years for the proposal to be realized. The determination of the veterans was aided by the interest of Commissioner Cortlandt Starnes and Prime Minister R.B. Bennett.

The RCMP Long Service Medal was unique in the history of the Canadian honours system. For the first time an honour was created to reward the service of Canadians serving within Canada. Previous awards for service in Canada, like the Canada General Service Medal were presented to both Canadian and British personnel. The timing of the process to create of this honour came in the wake of the Nickel Resolution. The Nickel Resolution grew out of the discontent with the manner in which honours were awarded immediately after World War I. The immediate result of the resolution created a policy of Canadians not being appointed to peerages and titular honours, and the government of Canada only making recommendation for a handful of non-titular honours. After the Statute of Westminster in 1931, which affirmed the equality of the self-governing dominions of the British Empire, there was no process for creating a new honour specifically for one of the dominions. The Canadian government passed the recommendation for creating the honour on to the Dominions Office, who had experience with drafting Royal Warrants. Finally, on 6 March 1934, King George V signed the Royal Warrant creating the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Long Service Medal. Prime Minister R.B. Bennett countersigned the Royal Warrant 15 December 1934 signifying that the King was acting on the advice of his Canadian Ministry. In commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the RCMP Long Service Medal, the Force commissioned a detailed history of the medal which was released in November 2014.