Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment The Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment of the British Army was raised in 1840 for service in Canada . Its members were veterans of service in other regiments of the British Army . The concern which led to the creation of the Regiment was the continuing problem of desertion . Soldiers of the British Army in garrison in Canada were often tempted to flee to the United States from which they would not be deported . At garrisons located close the international border such as Fort Mississauga in Niagara , Fort Malden in Amherstburg and Fort Wellington in Prescott , the problem of desertion was epidemic during and after the War of 1812 . In order to combat this problem , the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment only recruited veterans of at least 15 years ' service in the British Army . These men were thought to be more reliable than their younger counterparts . In addition , the pay of private soldiers in the Regiment was doubled to two shillings per day instead of the normal one shilling per day . They were also offered the prospect of a pension upon completion of 21 years of military service and free grants of land . Starting in 1840 , the Regiment was spread out in detachments from St . John ' s in Newfoundland to Winnipeg in Manitoba . Another unusual feature of the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment was its uniform and tactical employment . While most infantry in the British Army wore redcoats into the 1880s and 1890s and fought with smoothbore muskets into the 1850s , during the Napoleonic Wars the Army had experimented with regiments of rifle - armed infantry who wore green uniforms in an early attempt at camouflage . Deployed as skirmishers , these men of the King ' s Royal Rifle Corps , the 60th Regiment , and the 95th Regiment , performed sterling service throughout the Peninsular War and the Waterloo Campaign in 1815 . After the War of 1812 , the Duke of Wellington opined that light infantry and rifle - armed skirmishers would prove of great value in any future campaigns in North America . Taking this advice , the British Army elected to embody the new , veterans ' regiment as a rifle regiment rather than a more traditional infantry regiment . The initial weapon of the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment was the Baker rifle , which had been introduced into service in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars . While beloved by its users and quite sophisticated in design , it was a flintlock weapon and therefore liable to malfunction in rain or wind . In 1841 , the Army adopted a percussion lock rifle called the Brunswick rifle which was intended to retain the Baker rifle ' s better characteristics with a more reliable mechanism . The result of this change was unfortunate . The Brunswick Rifle was an inelegant rifle which suffered from a severe recoil when fired . In addition , the inherent problem of loading rifled ammunition down the barrel of a muzzleloading rifle remained to be solved . Where a smoothbore musket could be fired at least three times per minute in experienced hands , a Brunswick or Baker Rifle required a full minute to reload . While accurate to a range of approximately 300 yards rather than the 100 yards of the musket , the slowness of reloading proved a dangerous liability on the battlefield . Fort Wellington is a national historic site operated by Parks Canada and depicts the period 1846 . At this time , a company of the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment was in garrison at the Fort and visitors can see guides in the uniform of this Regiment as well as a restored barracks . The Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment was disbanded on 30 September 1870 at Kingston .