Scotty –​ Military Policeman and Artist Doug Scott​

By Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Thobo-Carlsen (Retired), CMPA Director of History & Heritage.
​

​​Military Police personnel who served between the 1960s and 1990s will almost certainly remember the satirical and sometimes risqué cartoons of the late Sergeant George Douglas (Doug) Scott, perhaps best known by his signature name Scotty. Many younger MP Branch members may be unfamiliar with this talented artist whose illustrations often featured Military Police themes.

Doug was born in La Salle (Montréal), Quebec and now lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Quickly singled out for his artistic talents, he was selected by his school at age eight to attend art classes at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts under the direction of Arthur Lismer, one of the renowned ‘Group of Seven’ artists. Doug completed a commercial art course at Sir George Williams College in Montreal in 1951, a year before enrolling in the Royal Canadian Navy as a cook. He later left the Navy to serve with the Halifax police for a short time before re-enlisting into the Air Force Police trade in 1960, and subsequently becoming an MP upon the unification of the Canadian Armed Forces in 1968. Doug retired from military service in 1980, completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, and became a Regional Security Officer with Employment and Immigration Canada. Throughout his military and public service careers, he always found time for his art.​        ​

Sergeant Doug Scott, CD, BA. (Source: Doug Scott)

"Buzz," circa 1954. (Source: Doug Scott)

Doug’s military cartooning began as an exercise to break the monotony while circumnavigating North America in 1954 aboard the icebreaker HMCS Labrador. There he created “Buzz Bear” a long-nosed polar bear with a beer belly and sailor’s cap whose escapades appeared in the ship’s newsletter Bergy Bits. Scotty cartoons graced the pages of several other military newspapers and publications throughout his 28-year military career. Doug is perhaps best known for the many illustrations produced over a 15-year run as staff cartoonist for the armed forces’ monthly magazine Sentinel (Sentinelle for the French edition).​ ​

​In 1974 a book titled Scotty Cartoons was published by the Canadian Forces Security Branch with all sale proceeds donated to the Military Police Fund for Blind Children. He authored several other cartoon collections, including some parodying the annual Rendezvous (RV) series of exercises, which were sold​ at CANEX outlets throughout the country. Doug never forgot his naval roots and always incorporated  an anchor in his Scotty cartoons.   ​

Several of Doug’s MP-themed cartoons were painted on the walls of the Thunderbird Lounge at the now demolished Canadian Forces School of Intelligence and Security at CFB Borden and Junior Ranks Mess at CFB Comox. Other Scotty murals live on at such places as the Shearwater Aviation Museum and the Chiefs & Petty Officers Mess at CFB Halifax.

He’s not too bright, but he comes in handy for clearing the Sergeants Mess. ​
(Source: On Guard for Thee – The Silver Anniversary of the Security Branch. Winnipeg: JOSTENS, 1993)

So that’s how you write Military Police in French!​
Another version of the "meathead" cartoon was painted on a wall in the Thunderbird Lounge of the Canadian Forces School of Intelligence and Security, CFB Borden.​ (​Source: On Guard for Thee)​​

​Doug later penned regular editorial cartoons for The Dartmouth Free Press and Dartmouth This Week. Beside cartooning, he is an accomplished oil painter and was commissioned by the Department of External Affairs to paint twelve large murals in the VIP terminal of CFB Ottawa (Uplands) for the Queen’s visit to open the 1973 Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conference.  ​

​In his golden years Doug Scott was a featured artist at the Fisherman's Cove Gallery, a cooperative located in Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia. Some of his paintings and murals can be found in private and commercial collections in Canada, Australia, France, South Africa and China.

George Douglas Scott passed away in Dartmouth on 7 March 2025 at 90 years of age. His online memorial is available here.

Scotty: Thank-you for your service to Canada, raising the profile of the Military Police through your wonderful cartoons, and providing perfect opportunities for us to laugh at ourselves from time to time!

George Douglas Scott, 6 Sep 1934–7 Mar 2025 (Photo: Scott Family)

 Doug Scott as a young sailor at
​ HMCS Cornwallis, circa 1952.
 (Photo: Courtesy of Doug Scott)

                    While serving as a navy cook, Doug draws "Buzz Bear" for the                      HMCS Labrador newspaper, circa 1954. 
​(Photo: Courtesy of Doug Scott)

​MP Sergeant Doug Scott drawing Scotty cartoons for Sentinel/Sentinelle magazine, circa 1973
(Photo: DND)

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​The following selection of Scotty cartoons, mostly featuring policing themes, spans over five decades. Enjoy!

Image adapted from the cover artwork of the "Scotty Cartoons" book published in 1974 to support the Military Police Fund for Blind Children. Used with the kind permission of Doug Scott.

Never mind the HO! HO! HO! RED NOSE, get out and walk around your sleigh. 
(Source: Arrowhead Tribune [No. 1 Wing RCAF, Marville, France], Vol 4, No. 22, 15 December 1964)

Remember, just take the firecrackers off of the kids
… and NOT the candy!
(Source: Arrowhead Tribune, Vol 6, No. 18, 28 October 1966)

(Source: Arrowhead Tribune, Vol 7, No. 13, 17 March 1967)
These Scotty cartoons appeared in the last edition of Marville's monthly magazine just before that base was vacated and 1 Wing moved to its new home in Lahr, West Germany. The second cartoon is a reference to the fact that Canadians had to share the new station with French air force personnel until they fully relinquished the Lahr air base to Canada in the Fall of 1967.

“…He says we wouldn’t dare arrest him in front of his friend!”
(Source: Sentinel [Magazine of the Canadian Forces], circa 1972)

(Source: Sentinel, Vol. 8, No. 4, April 1972)
Needing no caption, this cartoon will be universally understood by anyone who has served in the military – MP and non-MP alike.

(Source: A History of the Royal Canadian Air Force Police and Security Services, Col (Ret’d) Ronald J. Donovan    and LCol (Ret’d) David V. McElrea. Renfrew ON: General Store Publishing, 2008)
The “SG” armband stands for Security Guard. In the pre-unification RCAF, SGs were non-MP personnel employed in roles like today’s Base/Wing Auxiliary Security Forces.

(Source: Sentinel, Vol 15, No. 2, 1979)

Get their names first or we’re dead.
​(Source: Sentinel, Vol. 15, No. 5, 1979)

(Source: Sentinel, Vol 17, No. 2, 1981)

(Source: Thunderbird Journal, No. 3, Summer, 1983)
This one refers to Polygraph program residing in the Special Investigation Unit.

She was in the Duty Free shop.
(Source: Sentinel, Vol. 20, No. 2, 1984)

I knew it would happen sooner or later.
(​Source: Sentinel, Vol. 20, No. 2, 1984)

(Source: Thunderbird Journal, No. 1, Winter, 1985)

OK, who's the wise guy?
​(Source: Dossiers - Federal Law Enforcement Under Review (FLEUR), Vol. 2, June 1990)
This was drawn while Doug was a Regional Security Officer with Employment and Immigration Canada. It was featured in a police newsletter article about his cartooning sideline. 

Got any more bright ideas to catch poachers?
​(Source: Dossiers, Vol. 2, June 1990)
Another of Doug's post-military cartoons depicting federal law enforcement personnel, this time National Park Wardens. 

This can't be the place...its full of old people!
(Source: On Guard for Thee – The Silver Anniversary of the Security) Branch. Winnipeg: JOSTENS, 1993.

(Source: Author's collection)
Scotty drew this highly detailed commemorative cartoon when CFB Shearwater was reduced from a stand-alone base to a detachment of CFB Halifax, and the two Military Police Sections were amalgamated.

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Many Scotty cartoons evolved to keep up with changes happening in the military, particularly the unification of the three former services into the Canadian Armed Forces in 1968. The cartoons below show how Doug evolved his drawings and often adapted earlier Air Force Police and Canadian Provost Corps characters to reflect the unified Military Police trade.

​​The chief would have to live on the economy, wouldn’t he?
(Source: Arrowhead Tribune, Vol 5, No. 13, 31 July 1965)

(Source: Courtesy of Doug Scott)
This is a later drawing of his "cows" cartoon with a new caption.
​Doug sent us this version in October 2018, although the year he drew it is unknown.

 Rapport is one thing, Sergeant, but this smacks of fraternization.
(Source: Sentinel, Vol 4, No. 8, 1968)
This was the very first Scotty cartoon to appear in the Sentinel and Sentinelle magazine series'. The characters still wear their old RCAF uniforms, while the door markings reflect the newly unified MP trade name.

(Source: Courtesy of Doug Scott)
This version appeared on page 22 of the Scotty Cartoons book published in 1974. Because the original drawing was not signed, Doug kindly applied his Scotty signature to our copy in October 2018.

How long has Smedley been a dog handler?
(Source: On Guard for Thee – The Silver Anniversary of The Security Branch. Winnipeg: JOSTENS, 1993)

How long has Smedley been a dog handler?
​(Source: Dossiers - Federal Law Enforcement Under Review (FLEUR), Vol. 2, June 1990)
This was drawn while Doug was a Regional Security Officer with Employment and Immigration Canada, he adapted his characters to another law enforcement agency.​

LOOK BUDDY!  I’m not walking that line without a safety net under it.
(Source: Arrowhead Tribune, Vol 5, No. 20, 1 December 1965)

l'll walk the line, but only if there’s a saftey net under it!
(Source: Sentinelle [revue des Forces canadiennes], Vol. 6, No. 7, 1970)
Yet another variation of this cartoon, featuring a buxom female MP in the lead, was painted as a wall mural in the Thunderbird Lounge of the old Canadian Forces School of Intelligence and Security, CFB Borden.

It's nice of you fellas to bring me home like this.
(Source: Sentinelle, Vol. 6, No. 4, 1970)
In this original version of the cartoon the MPs still wear their old CProC uniforms.

(Source: Scotty Cartoons, 1974)
In this later version, which appeared on page 23 of the Scotty Cartoons book, the MPs now wear their post-unification "CF greens."

...this must be one of the fringe benefits for MPs
(Source: Sentinel, 1974, volume and month unknown).

(Source: Courtesy of Doug Scott)
Doug based his 1974 Sentinel colour cartoon on an earlier version drawn while ​he was an Air Force Policemen. He no longer has the original AFP drawing, but kindly sent us this re-creation in October 2018.

Are you sure that’s the way Military Police translates into French?
(Source: Sentinel, Vol 3, No 6, 1970)
This is an early version of Scotty’s infamous "meathead" cartoon, with the MPs still wearing pre-unification RCAF uniforms.

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Scotty even lampooned the Canadian Military Police Association. Below are several CMPA-themed cartoons that he drew for the Thunderbird Journal in the mid-1980s.

(Source: Thunderbird Journal, No. 4, Fall, 1984)

(Source: Thunderbird Journal, No. 3, Summer, 1984)
This one refers to a CMPA lapel pin and t-shirt that were presented as gifts to all paid CMPA members in 1984.

(Source: Thunderbird Journal, No. 3, Summer, 1984)
This one refers to a CMPA-assisted project in 1984 to develop a Security Branch sword.

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In his later years Doug Scott mainly painted in oils. However, he was happy to exercise his cartooning skills again for the CMPA and generously recreated one of his classic Air Force Police-era Scotty cartoons, which will serve to close this article.

(Source: Courtesy of Doug Scott, October 2018)