![]() Far more distressing than the idea of having an after-breakfast nap on a pillow bedecked with buzz-killing cartoon cops is that by accessorizing with festive Mountie merchandise, corrupt police behaviour, including police brutality, is tacitly condoned. Chippindale says that Arborist's design team "works closely with to ensure we are representing the foundation and the Mounties in an accurate way." (The 2013 doll release was part of Mattel's Dolls of the World collection. ![]() "It's easy to take comfort in a symbol of the true north, something that belongs to only us," she says, adding that a family member once gave her a Mountie Barbie for Christmas. Pearl Harding-Hao, an Edmonton woman who I found via an Instagram search for #MountieOnesie, told me she doesn't view the RCMP as scary, but instead as kind, strong, brave and dignified. ![]() Why would I want them painted on my mug as I get covertly tipsy at 10:30 a.m.? I wouldn't want 12 human police officers huddled around my living room on Christmas morning. The bright red jacket and Nutcracker-posture may seem jocund, but we mustn't forget that Mounties are cops. ![]() In other words: Mounties look like elves. Chippindale notes that though Arborist items are for sale year-round, Mountie items perform "especially well" during the holidays, likely due to their festive aethestic. (Net proceeds from the Mountie Shop also go directly to the foundation.) Through a licensing partnership, 10 per cent of Arborist collection sales are transferred to the RCMP Foundation, an "independent, arm's-length, charitable organization that initiates, develops and supports community programs across Canada for the benefit of children and youth at risk," according to its website. The Arborist collection features coasters, scarves, socks, children's apparel and adult-sized onesies, fashionably illustrated in a contemporary style one might associate with music-gig posters or craft-beer labels. For the younger, trendier consumer, there's also the Drake General Store's Arborist collection, which "represents our home and native land in a playful, quirky way, with a nod to nostalgia and pop culture," says Kate Chippindale, the Drake General Store's senior manager of marketing and business development. The Mountie Shop website, the RCMP's official retailer, sells ornaments (such as a 14-inch wooden Mountie Nutcracker), pins and other memorabilia, though the aesthetic is more conservative. One supposes there are two kinds of shoppers who purchase RCMP holiday merchandise: those who are so smitten by the cute, cartoonish design that they forget the weapon-wielding characters adorning the handle of a cheese knife represent the carceral state, and those who just love the police.įor the latter, RCMP trinket shopping is not limited to the seasonal offerings of Indigo locations and local gift shops. (Nothing says "Season's Greetings" like a cop dangling from your Christmas tree.) Among the kitschy Canadiana and borderline menacing Santa Claus ornaments are always, for some reason, a handful of Mountie trifles – there's a beaver in an RCMP uniform, a moose in an RCMP uniform, a snowman in an RCMP uniform and, most sinister of all, an RCMP officer in an RCMP uniform. Walk by any boutique gift shop in Toronto's Annex or Queen West shopping districts and you'll find window displays charmingly aglow with ornaments meant to inspire sentiment in passersby. For many, the symbolism of the RCMP represents a sincere, albeit naive, sense of national pride alongside other relatively harmless Canadian insignias – maple syrup, plaid, snowshoes, moose, all of which surge in visibility around the holidays.
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