The Council of Assiniboia (French: Conseil d'Assiniboine) was the first appointed administrative body of the District of Assiniboia, operating from 1821 until 1870. It was this council who is credited for the arrival of a functioning legal system, a local police force, and a militia to the vast wilderness that was the fur-trading territory of Rupert's Land. Over its existence, the Council of Assiniboia transformed numerous times in an effort to bring law and order to a young colonial settlement that was rife with tension and hardship.