[PHOTOS] The Hudson Bay Company, return to 350 years of commerce

In March 2025, the Hudson Bay Company (CBH) asked to be placed under the protection of the bankruptcy law, ending the oldest Canadian business.

This end raises many media comments. Meanwhile, a certain nostalgia for the chain’s loyal customers, and causes a frantic race between its competitors to recover the brand image of the famous yellow, red, white and green stripes. Consequently, These will now survive under the aegis of Canadian Tire which has just bought the rights. Consequently, On the other hand, this bankruptcy signals the end of the 80 remaining CBH branches. Similarly, This news rings the death knell for its very long story, a story that has started … Nevertheless, in New France!

A colonial history first and above all – [photos] hudson bay company, return

Recall that far from being a simple chain of stores, the CBH is deeply rooted in economic, ecological, colonial, social and state history of Canada. Consequently, Its foundation dates back to New France with Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard Chouart des Groseilliers, two original French. For example, The Governor of New France accuses them of illegally carrying out their sales of furs in the Great Lakes region. Meanwhile, In retaliation, the two men will therefore turn to England to support their new expeditions. However, [photos] hudson bay company, return This collaboration gives birth to the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1670.

The arrival of the CBH on the colonial scene creates a new competition for the furs of Canada, [photos] hudson bay company, return which obliges the merchants of New France to redouble their efforts in order to enter the continent in search of pelleteries.

Competition is fierce: whether it be the depredations of the Iberville brothers on the British forts of Hudson bay. the development of a French milking chain even in the territory of current Alberta, the French in America act and react according to the activities of the CBH.

Besides, many employees, agents and interpreters of the company are French Canadians of the same caliber as Radisson and Groseilliers.

Almost his own country

Even after the end of the war of conquest in 1763. the CBH continues to hire hundreds, if not thousands, of French [photos] hudson bay company, return Canadian travelers carrying and transferring furs and goods between its various milking positions.

The influence of the CBH is such that it will even negotiate treaties with the natives in the. name of the British crown.

By its territorial monopoly, the CBH therefore occupies an important place in the creation of the Western provinces. It is at the origin of the foundation of cities like Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver.

This stranglehold on what is called at the time the land of Rupert extends even on part of Quebec which includes Abitibi. North-du-Québec and Saguenay.

The territorial hegemony of the CBH was perpetuated until 1870. the year when Canada bought Rupert land for a sum of 300,000 pounds sterling and recovers exploitation rights from a twentieth of the agricultural land available to colonization.

Change

If the total sale of the CBH lands was not completed until 1925, the company did not disappear.

It adapts to the will of the economy: which has become a retail business. its stores are in large Canadian cities, while even the most distant villages can count at the very least in its catalog.

And of course, the fur trade continues: in Quebec, around 1965, [photos] hudson bay company, return the CBH still maintains 29 active counters.

Nevertheless, behind the beautiful trade facades and the famous emblematic stripes of the company hides a darker side.

As demonstrated The hidden side of transactions (1972). a striking documentary shot on the occasion of the 300^e CHB anniversary, it has long tied up its main customers: Aboriginal people in Canada. This fact is mixing the story of a company that has been celebrated for a long time in the. Canadian national story.

In the footsteps of the CBH in Banq

From 1931, historians had limited access to the company’s documents, located in London. To facilitate access. it was [photos] hudson bay company, return not until the year 1974 when the CBH collections were deposited in the Provincial Archives of Manitoba.

In 1994. the collection was permanently bequeathed to the Province of Manitoba, constituting “one of the most important public gifts ever offered [d’une valeur estimée] nearly $ 60 million ”. It should also be noted that the tax savings (approximately $ 23 million) resulting from the donation allow the creation of a foundation “in order to help the operation of [Archives de la Compagnie de la Baie d’Hudson] As a Division of Provincial Archives of Manitoba. as well as the implementation of other activities and programs. ”

The provincial archivist of Manitoba. Peter Bower, noted at the time: “It is said that it is the most important and complete archive fund after that of the Vatican”. The collection includes. among other things, 160,000 photographs and 2000 linear meters of documents, all [photos] hudson bay company, return preserved mainly in Winnipeg, with copies and some original in Ottawa at Library and Archives Canada.

Many institutions take advantage of this donation using microfilmage, including BANQ. Indeed, the national archives in Quebec, for example, have two microfilms including copies of documents produced between 1668 and 1904 (Cote: ZC55).

You can also explore the North-West Company collection (P255) at the National Archives in Montreal. the Frémont family Fund 1725-1902 (P85) in the National Archives in Quebec to learn more about the “North-West Company”, a CBH competitor to their British Crown Union in 1821.

Finally, BanQ has many studies and collections of transcripts of documents. This includes several volumes of the impressive series of publications from the Hudson’s Bay Record Society (including Northern Quebec. Labrador Journals and Correspondence 1819-35).

[photos] hudson bay company, return

And you, do you have a traveler ancestor?

It is also possible to look for a traveler ancestor who worked for the CBH. Andrew Graham. an important CBH agent, wrote in 1775 that French Canadians “are men sought after, accustomed to rigors and fatigue, under which most of your current servants would succumb”. (Stephens, Masters and Servantsp. 128)

To find a traveler ancestor, you can turn to the Historical Society of Saint-Boniface in Manitoba. Indeed. it manages the database of travelers which is based on the numerous grafts of notaries found in Quebec and kept in Banq.

A text by Joseph Gagné. historian and archivist in the National Archives in Quebec, Banq

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