Courtlandt Starnes (1864 – 1934)
Courtlandt Starnes was born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of George Edmond and Marie “Malvina” Beaudry Starnes. He was educated at the Plateau Academy in Montreal and worked for a year or two at a commercial office. He attended Infantry school in St. Jean, Quebec and went west as an Adjutant with the 65th Mount Royal Rifles Regiment, No. 3 Company. As a Lieutenant, under General Strange, he was awarded the North-West Rebellion Medal and Bar. He returned east after the rebellion and by 1886 was an Inspector with the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP). Courtland Starnes and Mina “Malvina” Sicotte were married in 1891 when Starnes was stationed in Regina. He was transferred to the Estevan NWMP post in March 1896.1)
In 1897, Inspector Starnes was a member of Yukon Commissioner Walsh's advance party.2) He sailed from Vancouver to Skagway with Judge McGuire, Frederick Wade, Dr. Bonner, and others.3) Three boats were built at Bennett Lake for the escort party in September 1897 and Inspector Starnes was in charge of one of the boats. The free board on his boat was not very high and high winds forced him to jettison some of the load although some of the supplies were recovered. Starnes reached Little Salmon in November and ice had choked the river. He established a winter quarters about a mile below the junction of the Little Salmon and the Yukon rivers and remained there until January 31, 1898. Frederick Wade, Judge McGuire, and the court party continued on to Dawson by dog team. Starnes purchased 3,000 pounds of provisions from travellers as supplies.4)
Starnes took over command of the Dawson barracks in June 1898, and Inspector Constantine and his wife left Dawson on the sternwheeler Hamilton.5) Marie Sicotte Starnes, wife of NWMP Inspector Courtland Starnes, came to the Yukon with the Yukon Field Force in 1898.6) She arrived in Dawson on the steamer Anglian in July 1898.7)
J. M. Walsh, Commander of the Yukon District, appointed Inspector Starnes, and Messrs. D. W. Davis, F. C. Wade, H. A. Bliss, and Drs. Thompson and Richardson as the town committee for Dawson. The committee saw that the public streets and river banks were kept clear of all obstructions in the shape of buildings, caches, tents, sale goods and stands, wood piles, and obstacles of all kinds. They were to have the street lines properly located and see that that was observed. They were to see cleanliness was observed and generally to bring about sanitary conditions in the town. Walsh empowered the committee to decide by resolution on a majority vote what steps to carry out with the assistance of the NWMP.8) Starnes acted as judge and magistrate in trials for petty offenses. His Draconian judgements were feared and respected, and he kept drunkenness at a minimum.9) In October 1898 Captain Harper was appointed stipendiary magistrate and Starnes took the position of quarter master and pay master of the force. He was still dispensing justice in civil cases.10)
By the fall of 1898, there was a cash flow problem for the NWMP in the Yukon. The custom duty funds were normally reported to Ottawa but handed over to the NWMP for their operations. In September, the officials at Lindeman and Log Cabin refused to hand over the money. In Dawson, Inspector Starnes had to pledge his personal credit to obtain $200,000 so that the government accounts could be settled and the NWMP in the lower Yukon could receive six months back pay.11)
In March 1900, Clifford Sifton instructed that Inspector Starnes be ordered out immediately. Starnes requested three months leave pending submitting his resignation and superannuation and started to build a house in Dawson. Frederick White denied his request and ordered Starnes to return to the North-West Territories. Starnes submitted his resignation as he had interests in the Yukon that he would lose if he left. Wade sent a telegram to Sifton asking that Starnes not be moved on any account and Sifton wrote back to advise Starnes to remain in Dawson. Five months later, Superintendent Wood was ordered to send Inspector Starnes out on the opening of navigation. Starnes again responded that he had interests in the Yukon that made it impossible to accept the transfer and submitted his resignation. Once again he was allowed to stay.12)
Starnes left the Yukon in 1902. In 1909, he was promoted to Superintendent, and in 1910 he was posted to Churchill on Hudson’s Bay. In 1914/15, he was Commanding Superintendent of “D” Division at Fort McLeod in Alberta. In 1918, he served as Assistant Provost Marshall in Quebec and Montreal, and in 1919, he was Superintendent of the Winnipeg Division during the Winnipeg Strike.13) In 1922 Starnes replaced A. Bowen Perry as Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.14) He became the 7th Commissioner of the RCMP from 1923 to 1931, the first French Canadian to hold this post. Starnes retired in 1931 after serving for over forty-five years. He died after a lengthy illness and was buried in Montreal.15)