Author: John Virag

Sunday, 29 September 2024 was an important and memorable day in the history of the RCMP Pipes, Drums and Dancers of the National Capital Region.

Canadian Police & Peace Officers Memorial

The day started with National Capital Region band members on parade for the annual Canadian Police & Peace Officers Memorial (CPPOM). We were fortunate to be joined by RCMP Pipe Band members from five of the other RCMP Bands. A large group from Montreal’s “C” Division came to Ottawa for the parade. As well, members from Halifax, Moncton, Regina and Edmonton were in town for meetings of the National Executive Committee, so paraded with us.

The Canadian Police & Peace Officers Memorial (CPPOM) is held on Parliament Hill annually to honour Police and Peace officers who have lost their lives on duty during the previous year and to remember those lost in previous years. It is a major event for Pipe Bands and for Police and Peace officers from across the province and further afield, who come to Ottawa to march and to remember. While we honour all officers on the Honour Roll, this year, we especially remembered Cst. Rick O’Brien. This RCMP member was murdered in Coquitlam, B.C. on 22 September 2023. His name will now be added to the Canadian Police and Peace Officers’ Memorial glass tablets, with all other officers killed in the line of duty since confederation. The tablets are located beside the Police Memorial Pavilion behind the center block.

Near the end of the parade, an important event for the Ottawa RCMP band took place. After 22 years as Pipe Major, Graeme Ogilvie formally turned the Pipe Band over to our new Pipe Major, Iain Tait. PM Ogilvie handed over the Commissioner’s Banner and PM Tait then took up position at the head of the band for the march off.

The Reception

After the ceremony on Parliament Hill, band members and special guests gathered in the Rockcliffe General Mess at the Canadian Police College. PM Tait piped in PM Ogilvie with a tune he had recently written for the occasion. The march was appropriately titled “A View to Green Pastures”.

Led by Master of Ceremonies Drum Major Brad Hampson, memories were shared and presentations were made. Former Drum Major Graham Muir, who was instrumental in recruiting Graeme to the Pipe Major’s position, had many interesting stories of their years together. Drum Major Bob Skinner of the Toronto Police Services Pipes and Drums presented a framed tribute, containing a new bagpipe tune dedicated to Graeme. Our Commanding Officer also said a few words thanking Graeme for his service.

Once the presentations were completed, the MC regaled us with “Parting Glass” and we all joined in for “Auld Lang Syne” to close off the formalities.

PM Graeme Ogilvie will still be with the band as a piper and as assistant to PM Iain Tait, keeping the band strong into the future.

The RCMP Pipe Band has new graphics on our regimental drums! The newly emblazoned drums were paraded for the first time at the 2024 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, by a composite band drawn from across Canada.

The RCMP was presented with its third Guidon in September 2023. The new Guidon was updated with His Majesty King Charles III Cypher, as well as a new corps operational honour for Afghanistan 2003-14, and the distinctive badge of the Canadian Provost Corps with scroll 1939-1945. The commonwealth tradition is that regimental drums are emblazoned based upon the heraldry displayed on the regimental Guidon (flag) or Colours. Now, the regimental drums of the Force’s eight pipe bands and the recruit band at Depot Division, will also be updated.

Hand painting regimental drums with battle honours is a centuries old tradition from the British Army. Their drums were often used as signaling tools for communication in times of battle, and were closely linked to the regimental flags. The RCMP adopted emblazoning of drums in the late 1950’s. Nowadays, computer-generated decals have replaced the hand painted drums.

These regimental decals were created by Doug Matthews, and were received just before the Tattoo. Our drum corps worked diligently to get them all onto the drums before the first Tattoo event. Since this was the first set to be installed, some creativity was needed to get everything just right. It all worked out well and the drums are beautiful. This video gives a view of the whole set of drums

The honours on the guidon and now the drums, attest to wartime service in conflict zones. For the RCMP, they include:
North West Canada 1885, South Africa 1900-2, France & Flanders 1918, Siberia 1918-19, Second World War 1939-1945, and Afghanistan 2003-14.

As a national police force, the RCMP also has a proud military heritage, following many British Army light cavalry traditions from the early days of the Force in the western prairies from 1873 onward. There they kept the peace while enforcing the law in a very young Canada. They also answered the call in times of conflict to work towards peace alongside Canada’s military, both in Canada and across the world into the 21st century. Further information about the guidon is available at https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/guidon

The newly emblazoned drums were paraded for the first time in Edinburgh at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, where they were played by our RCMP drummers in the massed pipes and drums. They lined up alongside the regimental drums belonging to the many British Army regimental bands playing in the Tattoo. The first show with our re-emblazoned drums was on August 2nd, 2024.

These photos show our old regimental drums in the drum altar created for the new Guidon presentation at RCMP Depot Division in Regina in 2023, and the newly updated drums in Edinburgh at the castle.

The 150th Anniversary of the RCMP was expected to be a busy year. We hoped there would be extra events that would highlight this important anniversary. Our hopes were answered big time!

We thought that 2022 had brought the band back to a more normal schedule after the COVID years, but 2023 ended up being well beyond expectations. In fact, 2023 equalled the previous busiest year in the Band’s history (2019), with performances at 41 different events. This compares to 26 events in 2022 and only 11 in 2021. As hoped, much of the activity was related to the celebration of the RCMP’s 150^th Anniversary. The most significant for us was the presentation of the new RCMP Guidon in Regina, Saskatchewan in September, where we participated as part of a composite band with pipers and drummers from across the country.

The major activities of 2023 were a full band/dancer concert at Orleans United Church in the spring, 75^th (+3) anniversary Liberation Ceremonies in the Netherlands (with side trips to Vimy in France and the Menin Gate in Ieper Belgium, and to Germany) for 2 weeks in April/May and to the Basel International Tattoo (Switzerland), the second largest tattoo in the world, in July.

The Band continued its support to the RCMP by parading at many garrison events, including the RCMP Commissioner Change of Command, the O Division Change of Command in Toronto, V Division Change of Command in Iqaluit, and a number of Long Service Medals Ceremonies in Ottawa.

It’s not just full band events that keep us busy. We had band members perform more than 120 solo/duo events through the year.

A sad but important task for the band is leading the troops parading to honour police officers killed on duty. Unfortunately, this happened often in 2023. Our band members joined those from other RCMP and police bands at the services for OPP Cst Pierzchala (Barrie), Surete du Quebec Sgt Brault (Trois Rivieres), RCMP Cst Dhami (Edmonton), OPP Sgt Mueller (Kanata), and RCMP Cst O’Brien (Vancouver). Along with the funerals, we attended the annual Ontario Police memorial in Toronto in April and the National Police Memorial in Ottawa in September.

Long time support also continued to local charity organizations such as the ALS, Cancer Society, Muscular Dystrophy, and the Shriners.

If it sounds to have been a busy year, it was. Band members logged over 20,000 volunteer hours in 2023, a doubling of the volunteer hours over 2022. 

Ahead for 2024

It is anticipated that 2024 could be another very busy year. While a full schedule has yet to be finalized, the Band will support numerous events in the National Capital Region, representing National Headquarters as well as collaborating with our sister RCMP Bands as appropriate. We already have two major events scheduled – the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Edinburgh, Scotland (the world’s largest and most famous tattoo), and the Scottish-Irish Festival of Estes Park, Colorado in early September. Watch our social media for more information as it becomes available. We hope to see you at our events.

June 1st, 2023 was a very special occasion for two members of the Ottawa RCMP Pipe Band. Drum Major (acting as a piper) Brad Hampson and Drum Corporal Andy Main answered the call and traveled to Iqaluit, Nunavut to assist with the Change of Command Ceremony for the “V” Division Commanding Officer.

Chief Supt. Amanda Jones, who had been CO since 2019, was officially turning over the Division to Chief Supt. Andrew Blackadar. RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme was on hand to supervise the turnover.

Drum Cpl. Main and Piper Hampson provided the march past and inspection music on the historic parade, amidst traditional Inuk throat singing, drumming, and dancing. The inclusion of live piping and drumming for the ceremony was a hit for the members in attendance.

The two band members enjoyed the opportunity to visit the area and take some great pictures around the town. This was a first for the Pipe Band and we hope it sets a precedent.

One of the realities of any group is that members eventually turn over and the planning for succession of the leadership is absolutely necessary to ensure the group can carry on into the future. Pipe bands are no exception. Sunday, May 27th, was a significant day in this process for the RCMP Pipe Band. Long-time Pipe Sergeants Gilbert Young and Donald Corbett have accepted new appointments as Pipe Sergeants Emeritus, while Pipe Corporals Jenny Putinski and Iain Tait have stepped up into the Pipe Sergeant roles.

Gilbert and Donald are both founding members of our leadership team and helped form this band into what it is today.

Their journey began in September 2000, when the RCMP Pipe Band of Ottawa became official with the first band event, the Change of Command for Commissioner Zaccardelli. Gilbert Young served as the first Pipe Sergeant at that initial stage under Pipe Major Pat Hayes. Gilbert stepped down in 2002, but rejoined the RCMP band a short time later and has remained with us ever since. During that time, Pipe Sergeant Emeritus Young has done over 350 band events and contributed 6,000 volunteer hours.

Pipe Sergeant Emeritus Donald Corbett was one of the members, along with Gilbert, Graham Muir and then P/M Pat Hayes, who helped established Ottawa’s RCMP Pipe Band. He started as a piper, but stepped into the P/Sgt role when Gilbert left in 2002. He has remained as Pipe Sgt ever since, performing in over 320 band events and contributing over 8,000 volunteer hours during his service in Red Serge.

As a recognition of their incredible contributions to our band we held a small ceremony where they received their appointments as Pipe Sergeants Emeritus. Both will continue to wear their Sgt stripes for as long as they are with us. The good news is that both of these fine gentlemen will remain with the band as pipers.

Gilbert and Donald join two other “Emeritus” appointments with this band. Pipe Major Graeme Ogilvie and Drum Major Graham Muir both received that distinction in 2017 when both stepped into the back rank and allowed others to take their places in front. Graeme did return to the Pipe Major role shortly after, however, and remains as Pipe Major. Graham Muir has continued as an active piper.

Two new Pipe Sergeants were appointed on the same day to help lead the band into the future. Pipe Corporals Jenny Putinski and Iain Tait were both presented their stripes and will step into their new roles immediately. Jenny’s first gig with the band was 11 November 2010 and she brought years of experience with other bands with her. She was promoted to P/Cpl on 12 Apr 2022. Iain first paraded with RCMP on 11 November 2013 and was promoted to P/Cpl on 15 Oct 2019, also bringing a track record of excellence with other bands to us.

We are very pleased to say the future leadership of our band is secure with these two taking on this responsibility.

Thanks to Serge Gouin for the excellent photos of the presentations