Oral histories are one of the major sources for this study. Historians have limited access to official RCMP documents about women in the police force, and I was no exception. Despite attempts to obtain documentation under the Access to Information Act, I was denied access to many of the files I requested for this research.
In the absence of official documents, the oral histories of people who have worked for the RCMP became invaluable resources in compiling this history.
The names of the people who are quoted in the following chapters are pseudonyms that I have created. The exceptions are cases where names have become a matter of public record, such as when recorded in autobiographical or historical material or identified in the media, or cases in which the narrators have agreed to be identified.
The names of the colleagues and commanding officers of those who were interviewed have also been changed or omitted to protect their anonymity and that of the narrators. I have also changed or invented the locations of the detachments and regions of the country in the retelling of certain events.
Any pseudonyms that are similar to, or the same as, the names of people who are currently working or who have worked in the past for the RCMP are purely coincidental.