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Winnipeg Free Press
13-06-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Uncertain fate of Indigenous artifacts in the Hudson's Bay Co.'s Corporate Collection raises ethical questions during firm's liquidation
For a once-proud retail giant — built on a fur-trading empire so far-reaching it was known simply as The Company — it was an unceremonious end. In March, after years of hemorrhaging at the bottom line, the Hudson's Bay Company announced it would begin liquidating its stores across the country, with the doomsday clock striking zero on June 1. Shoppers driven by nostalgia and bargains flocked to stores for all things striped red, green, yellow and blue, the now iconic colour pattern of the three-and-a-half-century-old institution. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Michelle Rydz, archivist with Hudson's Bay Company Archives, lays out a 1921 map that shows the disposition of land in Manitoba. Savvier hunters, however, are still waiting on the sidelines and eyeing bigger prizes — HBC's private collection of 1,700 art pieces, 2,700 artifacts and even the company's Royal Charter are all slated for auction to help pay off creditors. The 355-year-old document not only birthed Canada's oldest company, it effectively laid a foundation for colonial Canada itself — empowering HBC to operate like a sovereign government over Rupert's Land, which encompassed about one-third of present-day Canada. The six-pages of imperial parchment, signed by King Charles II of England in 1670 and which gave HBC exclusive trading rights throughout the vast Hudson Bay watershed, could make a visually elegant trophy in a private collector's drawing room. And while no official valuation exists, clearly the collection's crown jewel stands to fetch more than a few beaver pelts at auction. Additional details on the HBC Corporate Collection are scarce. However, browsing @hbcheritage, HBC's official Instagram account for its heritage department, one gets a glimpse, finding images of Indigenous art labelled 'HBC Corporate Collection.' This includes a handful of Inuit sculptures by unknown artists from the turn of the 20th century. According to The Canadian Press, an unnamed source familiar with the auction process says items proposed for auction include 'paintings dating back to 1650, point blankets, paper documents and even collectible Barbie dolls.' Neither HBC nor its auction house Heffel Gallery Ltd., responded to the Free Press questions about the contents of the corporate collection. Nor have they identified publicly what's intended for auction. Many First Nations leaders worry Indigenous artifacts could be among the sale lots — items they feel rightfully belong to Indigenous communities, not in private mansions. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS The Hudson's Bay Company Archives currently hold all nine original supplementary charters, which were signed to mend the 1670 Charter of Incorporation. By the 1880s, the HBC found that its original charter was inadequate for conduct of its modern business, especially with regard to land sales. The HBC petitioned the Crown for supplemental charters, the first of which was granted in 1884. There are also supplementary charters for 1892, 1912, 1920, 1949, 1957, 1960, 1963 and 1970. Unsurprisingly, that backlash is growing. Leslie Weir, the librarian and archivist of Library and Archives Canada, is one of many who feels the charter is too historically important to remain in private hands. And with HBC's deep historical roots in Manitoba — and much of its collection already housed at the Archives of Manitoba and the Manitoba Museum — several local organizations and public figures are opposing HBC's auction and argue the collection should come back to the province. 'Why don't they just make sure that these things that matter to the Canadian people, to Canadian history, to First Nations, Indigenous people … fall into the hands of the public?' Premier Wab Kinew said in late April. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) has intervened to halt the auction. In court filings from April, Grand Chief Kyra Wilson said it's highly likely some of the items slated for auction are 'of profound cultural, spiritual, and historical significance to First Nations people.' The AMC has demanded a First Nations-led review of the artifacts, meaningful consultation, and repatriation of items of sacred and cultural significance for Indigenous peoples. They've made some progress. The Ontario Superior Court conditionally approved the auction but required HBC to first submit a catalogue to the AMC and the court for expert review through the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Yet even if an item is declared 'cultural property,' that only restricts export, not domestic sale, and highlights broader regulatory gaps in Canada's heritage sector. In better times, the HBC made significant cultural donations. This includes more than 20,000 artifacts to the Manitoba Museum in the 1990s and more than two million historical documents to the Archives of Manitoba in 1974, known as the Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA), one of the world's most comprehensive archival repositories of its kind. At the time, these donations were praised by many as enlightened acts of corporate social responsibility. Today, the mood's very different. As well as leaving 8,000 laid-off employees without severance packages, HBC argues they have a financial responsibility to their creditors and stakeholders and can't just give away such valuable assets. As of early 2025, the company owed approximately $1.1 billion in debt, leading to its filing for creditor protection in March. While discussions about Indigenous sovereignty intensify, the fate of HBC's collections raises thorny questions about who owns and controls Canada's colonial and Indigenous heritage alike. Once stewards of colonial Canada, HBC has spent the last century stewarding that history. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Almost every major western Canadian city, and particularly Winnipeg, has its origins as an HBC trading post. But by the early 20th century, rugged pioneers trafficking in fur pelts from armed garrisons were becoming store clerks selling perfume and silk stockings in glossy Bay department stores. HBC had sold Rupert's Land to the new Dominion of Canada for £300,000 in 1870 without, of course, Indigenous consent. The armed resistance it triggered — Métis leader Louis Riel's ill-fated resistance against the Canadian government's attempt to annex the Red River Settlement — was prime minister John A. Macdonald's problem and HBC could turn itself to new ventures. The company opened its first department store in Winnipeg, at the corner of Main Street and York Avenue, in 1881. Winnipeg's middle-class could take in this emblematically Canadian experience with the security that followed Riel's defeat and Manitoba's entry into Confederation. While HBC was helping to bring Canadians the luxuries of modern consumer life, it was also becoming more vocal about its historical role in modernizing the country. In 1920, the year of the company's 250th anniversary, HBC released The Romance of the Far Fur Country. One of Canada's first documentary films, it's a nostalgic picture of the fur-trade era whose Indigenous subjects were sometimes asked to strike a more 'traditional' pose to suit the camera's colonial lens. (Romance was considered lost until Winnipeg filmmaker Kevin Nikkel reconstructed the film with Peter Geller, using original raw footage unearthed at the British Film Institute.) It was also the year HBC launched The Beaver magazine, renamed Canada's History in 2010 and still active today. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS A map of Manitoba from 1921 showing the disposition of lands in the Hudson's Bay Company Archives. Open an issue from 1920 and in between adventurous tales of traders, explorers and surveyors you'll find articles about HBC's purchase of 'Eskimo relics and Indian curios.' In 1926, the company opened its flagship downtown store at 450 Portage Ave., cementing its roots as a Winnipeg institution. The classical revivalist structure, radiating British imperial identity, still stands — although it was assessed at $0 in 2019 and required millions of dollars in upgrades to be brought up to code. The building was gifted by HBC in 2022 to the Southern Chiefs Organization, which is transforming the space into a mixed-use development and hub for Indigenous culture and community services. The handover ceremony included a symbolic payment of beaver and elk pelts. Also in 1926, HBC established a museum in Winnipeg, a showcase of its collection, other fur-trade materials and HBC lore gathered over the centuries. Today we know that very little provenance — recorded history of an object's origin and owners used to study its legal and ethical status — exists for artifacts acquired during this era. Like early editions of The Beaver, the museum was not only an absorbing record of colonial history, but served as a PR tool, portraying the company as a heroic and civilizing force on the Canadian frontiers. 'These two positions always go together: the power to rule and control lands, peoples and waters (and) the power to document and control history,' says Adele Perry, University of Manitoba history professor and director of the Centre for Human Rights Research. 'And that's one of the really powerful things about colonial archives and records, and that's why the struggles with them exist.' MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS The HBC Gallery at the Manitoba Museum includes a York boat, which was used by the Hudson's Bay Company to transport furs and goods along inland waterways. HBC's interests in land management and rugged outposts did not end with the 1870 sale of Rupert's Land. It continued to operate numerous posts across Northern and Western Canada well into the 20th century. These posts could act a little like an informal government arm, distributing food and goods allowances to remote communities, as well as supplying residential schools. Northern communities could also receive materials on HBC credit, to be repaid with furs or other items, a system managed at the discretion of local HBC officers that could lead to deep debt. Until the mid-20th century, HBC retained fertile land (known as the 'fertile belt') and extensive mineral rights in Western Canada, which spawned ventures including oil and gas exploration. This history can feel obscured by the company's public image as a modern retail giant. For many years, Winnipeg remained something of a Canadian nerve centre for the London, England-based company. As the 'Gateway to the West' at a time when the city still radiated economic promise, Winnipeg was well-positioned to help co-ordinate transportation and distribution across the Prairies and the North, and its downtown edifice was the company's flagship Bay store for decades. However, downtown Winnipeg's slow stagnation after the Second World War didn't bode well for 450 Portage Ave., and by the 1970s, HBC began to offload its guardianship of Canadian heritage to the Manitoba Museum and the Archives of Manitoba. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Amelia Fay, curator of anthropology and the HBC Museum Collection at the Manitoba Museum, displays a pair of waterproof gutskin pants. Established in 1974, the importance of the Hudson's Bay Company Archives to generations of researchers is hard to overstate. Driven by what historian Robert Coutts calls the company's 'fanatical penchant for record keeping,' the collection comprises some 2,000 metres of documents — London Committee minute books, servant records, daily journals of agents at Hudson Bay posts, ship logs and so on — alongside volumes of architectural drawings, photographs and maps, maps and more maps. 'To know that land, to map that land, is an element of control… That's the history of colonialism, in a way, right there,' says Kathleen Epp, keeper of the Hudson's Bay Company Archives. Plumbing the collection's depths, historians have grappled with colonialism's complexities and tragedies; climatologists illuminated the historical patterns of climate change; storytellers drew inspiration for yarns of war, historical romance and shipwreck; Indigenous researchers studied family genealogies and found evidence for land claims, treaty rights cases and status claims. Lined up neatly are all of HBC's successive charters until 1970 — each a marker in the company's 355-year history. But missing is the story's first chapter: the original 1670 Royal Charter. 'We know exactly where it belongs in our system,' Epp told the Globe and Mail. 'We think of (the charter) as part of our records in a way already because … we've got the rest of the story and so we feel like it makes sense for the charter to be here and to be as publicly accessible as any of the other records.' The year 1994 was another eventful one for the HBC's collections. That's when the company officially transferred the HBCA to the Archives of Manitoba, which had managed it for 20 years. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Drawers full of HBC blankets and sashes. It's also when The Beaver — whose triumphantly colonial tone had softened over the decades — became independent from HBC and when the company entrusted a vast but incomplete collection of its cultural objects to the Manitoba Museum. The most famous is the 16-metre replica of the Nonsuch, the ketch that sailed into Hudson Bay in 1668-69, commissioned by HBC to celebrate its tercentenary in 1970. It was gifted to the museum in 1973. But after visitors explore the ship's intricate carvings, cramped living quarters and muzzle-loading smoothbore guns, hopefully they'll wander over to the museum's HBC Gallery. There they'll find brass tokens used as currency in the fur trade, a Plains hide dress and birch-bark canoe, and an array of other Indigenous and colonial objects related to navigation, exploration, retail and trade — just a segment of the museum's massive HBC collection. Amelia Fay, curator of anthropology and the HBC Museum Collection at the museum, worries that if what's left of HBC's collection ends up in private hands it could hinder the study of key parts of colonial and Canadian history. 'To me, breaking up a collection breaks up that story,' she says. 'And then, of course, there's obvious ethical concerns. If there are Indigenous belongings — those going without consultation (is) perpetuating a colonial harm that museums are grappling with today. We're trying to repair those harms by reconnecting communities to belongings and looking into repatriation and rematriation.' In May, the museum formally apologized to First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities for holding ancestral remains and belongings in its collections without consent. It further committed to repatriating more than 40 ancestors through its 'Homeward Journey' initiative. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Samples of wood carvings to be sold in the stores. As for its HBC collection, Fay explains that a key part of her job is doing detective work — piecing together patchy clues to trace the communities HBC employees visited in the 1920s while collecting for the company's new museum. Some pieces may have been purchased from their makers, but given the deep power imbalances, those deals can echo the dubious terms under which land was signed over to colonial powers. Fay says when her team tracks down descendants of the original creators, some ask for the artifacts back right away. Others want the museum to keep and care for them, at least for the time being. 'I think it's an important role museums can play: we can be this intermediary space where things can be safe, they can be publicly accessible,' she says. 'People can come and learn from them, and when the time is right, on the various levels that may be, then they can eventually find their way home.' While HBC has been ordered to hand over its auction catalogue to the courts and to the AMC, whether it will willingly return items widely considered sacred or rightfully belonging to Indigenous communities or the public remains an open question. Cultural property is often cited as one of the world's largest unregulated markets, and Canada is no exception. 'We do not have any legislative or legal framework in Canada at the national level for anything related to repatriation… which is what makes it a bit difficult,' says Janis Kahentóktha Bomberry, executive director and chief executive officer for the Canadian Museum Association (CMA). MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS The Hudson's Bay Company became maior distributors of contemporary Inuit art. A small number of carvings are represented in the museum collection. The association has vocally supported the AMC and criticized HBC's auction plan. 'But there are standards where we're asking for the full return of cultural belongings to occur with the involvement of appropriate Indigenous nations and as equal partners,' she says. Bomberry is referring to the CMA's 2022 report titled Moved to Action: Activating UNDRIP in Museums, whose guidelines surrounding repatriation reflect the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action. But like the international rights frameworks they draw on, the CMA's report is more of a moral manual than a rule book. This means the responsibility to research provenance, an expensive and chronically underfunded task, and pursue repatriation and rematriation falls primarily on collectors and museums. It's a bit like asking a company to bankroll an audit that could show it's been profiting from looted goods, and hoping their conscience kicks them into action. Not every museum or collector is going to show the right stuff. Still, Canadian law offers a window of hope to Indigenous and public stakeholders: depending on what the federal review decides, some of HBC's corporate collection could be designated 'cultural property' — blocking its export and keeping it in the country. At that point, it's feasible that philanthropists might step in, purchasing key works and donating them to back to the appropriate Indigenous parties or public museums and archives. HBC seems to be promoting this apparent 'win-win' outcome. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Travel boxes featuring personal items that may have been included in a York boat crew member's kit. Tuesdays A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world. Adam Zalev, managing director of HBC's financial adviser Reflect Advisors, notes in an affidavit filed in April that 'government and quasi-governmental institutions, museums, universities, and high net worth individuals acting on their own accord or as potential benefactors to certain Canadian museums and institutions, have expressed interest in the art collection.' Some still resent the possibility that priceless and sacred artifacts could be reduced to dollar values. The forthcoming sale leads to unflattering parallels between the company's grand entrance more than 350 years ago and its hobbling exit today. 'This is a moment where the Hudson's Bay Company is conducting itself differently than it did, say, 40 years ago, when they clearly engaged in good faith and created a lasting structure with both the Archives of Manitoba… and then the Manitoba Museum,' says Perry, the historian. 'Here we are reliving in a tiny way, the Royal Charter of 1670 and the transfer of Rupert's Land of 1869-70 (where) the thoughts and experiences of peoples in these places are of the most minor consideration.' Conrad SweatmanReporter Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for outlets including The Walrus, VICE and Prairie Fire. Read more about Conrad. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
13-06-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
The uncertain fate of Indigenous artifacts in the Hudson's Bay Co.'s Corporate Collection raises ethical questions during firm's liquidation
For a once-proud retail giant — built on a fur-trading empire so far-reaching it was known simply as The Company — it was an unceremonious end. In March, after years of hemorrhaging at the bottom line, the Hudson's Bay Company announced it would begin liquidating its stores across the country, with the doomsday clock striking zero on June 1. Shoppers driven by nostalgia and bargains flocked to stores for all things striped red, green, yellow and blue, the now iconic colour pattern of the three-and-a-half-century-old institution. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Michelle Rydz, archivist with Hudson's Bay Company Archives, lays out a 1921 map that shows the disposition of land in Manitoba. Savvier hunters, however, are still waiting on the sidelines and eyeing bigger prizes — HBC's private collection of 1,700 art pieces, 2,700 artifacts and even the company's Royal Charter are all slated for auction to help pay off creditors. The 355-year-old document not only birthed Canada's oldest company, it effectively laid a foundation for colonial Canada itself — empowering HBC to operate like a sovereign government over Rupert's Land, which encompassed about one-third of present-day Canada. The six-pages of imperial parchment, signed by King Charles II of England in 1670 and which gave HBC exclusive trading rights throughout the vast Hudson Bay watershed, could make a visually elegant trophy in a private collector's drawing room. And while no official valuation exists, clearly the collection's crown jewel stands to fetch more than a few beaver pelts at auction. Additional details on the HBC Corporate Collection are scarce. However, browsing @hbcheritage, HBC's official Instagram account for its heritage department, one gets a glimpse, finding images of Indigenous art labelled 'HBC Corporate Collection.' This includes a handful of Inuit sculptures by unknown artists from the turn of the 20th century. According to The Canadian Press, an unnamed source familiar with the auction process says items proposed for auction include 'paintings dating back to 1650, point blankets, paper documents and even collectible Barbie dolls.' Neither HBC nor its auction house Heffel Gallery Ltd., responded to the Free Press questions about the contents of the corporate collection. Nor have they identified publicly what's intended for auction. Many First Nations leaders worry Indigenous artifacts could be among the sale lots — items they feel rightfully belong to Indigenous communities, not in private mansions. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS The Hudson's Bay Company Archives currently hold all nine original supplementary charters, which were signed to mend the 1670 Charter of Incorporation. By the 1880s, the HBC found that its original charter was inadequate for conduct of its modern business, especially with regard to land sales. The HBC petitioned the Crown for supplemental charters, the first of which was granted in 1884. There are also supplementary charters for 1892, 1912, 1920, 1949, 1957, 1960, 1963 and 1970. Unsurprisingly, that backlash is growing. Leslie Weir, the librarian and archivist of Library and Archives Canada, is one of many who feels the charter is too historically important to remain in private hands. And with HBC's deep historical roots in Manitoba — and much of its collection already housed at the Archives of Manitoba and the Manitoba Museum — several local organizations and public figures are opposing HBC's auction and argue the collection should come back to the province. 'Why don't they just make sure that these things that matter to the Canadian people, to Canadian history, to First Nations, Indigenous people … fall into the hands of the public?' Premier Wab Kinew said in late April. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) has intervened to halt the auction. In court filings from April, Grand Chief Kyra Wilson said it's highly likely some of the items slated for auction are 'of profound cultural, spiritual, and historical significance to First Nations people.' The AMC has demanded a First Nations-led review of the artifacts, meaningful consultation, and repatriation of items of sacred and cultural significance for Indigenous peoples. They've made some progress. The Ontario Superior Court conditionally approved the auction but required HBC to first submit a catalogue to the AMC and the court for expert review through the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Yet even if an item is declared 'cultural property,' that only restricts export, not domestic sale, and highlights broader regulatory gaps in Canada's heritage sector. In better times, the HBC made significant cultural donations. This includes more than 20,000 artifacts to the Manitoba Museum in the 1990s and more than two million historical documents to the Archives of Manitoba in 1974, known as the Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA), one of the world's most comprehensive archival repositories of its kind. At the time, these donations were praised by many as enlightened acts of corporate social responsibility. Today, the mood's very different. As well as leaving 8,000 laid-off employees without severance packages, HBC argues they have a financial responsibility to their creditors and stakeholders and can't just give away such valuable assets. As of early 2025, the company owed approximately $1.1 billion in debt, leading to its filing for creditor protection in March. While discussions about Indigenous sovereignty intensify, the fate of HBC's collections raises thorny questions about who owns and controls Canada's colonial and Indigenous heritage alike. Once stewards of colonial Canada, HBC has spent the last century stewarding that history. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Almost every major western Canadian city, and particularly Winnipeg, has its origins as an HBC trading post. But by the early 20th century, rugged pioneers trafficking in fur pelts from armed garrisons were becoming store clerks selling perfume and silk stockings in glossy Bay department stores. HBC had sold Rupert's Land to the new Dominion of Canada for £300,000 in 1870 without, of course, Indigenous consent. The armed resistance it triggered — Métis leader Louis Riel's ill-fated resistance against the Canadian government's attempt to annex the Red River Settlement — was prime minister John A. Macdonald's problem and HBC could turn itself to new ventures. The company opened its first department store in Winnipeg, at the corner of Main Street and York Avenue, in 1881. Winnipeg's middle-class could take in this emblematically Canadian experience with the security that followed Riel's defeat and Manitoba's entry into Confederation. While HBC was helping to bring Canadians the luxuries of modern consumer life, it was also becoming more vocal about its historical role in modernizing the country. In 1920, the year of the company's 250th anniversary, HBC released The Romance of the Far Fur Country. One of Canada's first documentary films, it's a nostalgic picture of the fur-trade era whose Indigenous subjects were sometimes asked to strike a more 'traditional' pose to suit the camera's colonial lens. (Romance was considered lost until Winnipeg filmmaker Kevin Nikkel reconstructed the film with Peter Geller, using original raw footage unearthed at the British Film Institute.) It was also the year HBC launched The Beaver magazine, renamed Canada's History in 2010 and still active today. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS A map of Manitoba from 1921 showing the disposition of lands in the Hudson's Bay Company Archives. Open an issue from 1920 and in between adventurous tales of traders, explorers and surveyors you'll find articles about HBC's purchase of 'Eskimo relics and Indian curios.' In 1926, the company opened its flagship downtown store at 450 Portage Ave., cementing its roots as a Winnipeg institution. The classical revivalist structure, radiating British imperial identity, still stands — although it was assessed at $0 in 2019 and required millions of dollars in upgrades to be brought up to code. The building was gifted by HBC in 2022 to the Southern Chiefs Organization, which is transforming the space into a mixed-use development and hub for Indigenous culture and community services. The handover ceremony included a symbolic payment of beaver and elk pelts. Also in 1926, HBC established a museum in Winnipeg, a showcase of its collection, other fur-trade materials and HBC lore gathered over the centuries. Today we know that very little provenance — recorded history of an object's origin and owners used to study its legal and ethical status — exists for artifacts acquired during this era. Like early editions of The Beaver, the museum was not only an absorbing record of colonial history, but served as a PR tool, portraying the company as a heroic and civilizing force on the Canadian frontiers. 'These two positions always go together: the power to rule and control lands, peoples and waters (and) the power to document and control history,' says Adele Perry, University of Manitoba history professor and director of the Centre for Human Rights Research. 'And that's one of the really powerful things about colonial archives and records, and that's why the struggles with them exist.' MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS The HBC Gallery at the Manitoba Museum includes a York boat, which was used by the Hudson's Bay Company to transport furs and goods along inland waterways. HBC's interests in land management and rugged outposts did not end with the 1870 sale of Rupert's Land. It continued to operate numerous posts across Northern and Western Canada well into the 20th century. These posts could act a little like an informal government arm, distributing food and goods allowances to remote communities, as well as supplying residential schools. Northern communities could also receive materials on HBC credit, to be repaid with furs or other items, a system managed at the discretion of local HBC officers that could lead to deep debt. Until the mid-20th century, HBC retained fertile land (known as the 'fertile belt') and extensive mineral rights in Western Canada, which spawned ventures including oil and gas exploration. This history can feel obscured by the company's public image as a modern retail giant. For many years, Winnipeg remained something of a Canadian nerve centre for the London, England-based company. As the 'Gateway to the West' at a time when the city still radiated economic promise, Winnipeg was well-positioned to help co-ordinate transportation and distribution across the Prairies and the North, and its downtown edifice was the company's flagship Bay store for decades. However, downtown Winnipeg's slow stagnation after the Second World War didn't bode well for 450 Portage Ave., and by the 1970s, HBC began to offload its guardianship of Canadian heritage to the Manitoba Museum and the Archives of Manitoba. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Amelia Fay, curator of anthropology and the HBC Museum Collection at the Manitoba Museum, displays a pair of waterproof gutskin pants. Established in 1974, the importance of the Hudson's Bay Company Archives to generations of researchers is hard to overstate. Driven by what historian Robert Coutts calls the company's 'fanatical penchant for record keeping,' the collection comprises some 2,000 metres of documents — London Committee minute books, servant records, daily journals of agents at Hudson Bay posts, ship logs and so on — alongside volumes of architectural drawings, photographs and maps, maps and more maps. 'To know that land, to map that land, is an element of control… That's the history of colonialism, in a way, right there,' says Kathleen Epp, keeper of the Hudson's Bay Company Archives. Plumbing the collection's depths, historians have grappled with colonialism's complexities and tragedies; climatologists illuminated the historical patterns of climate change; storytellers drew inspiration for yarns of war, historical romance and shipwreck; Indigenous researchers studied family genealogies and found evidence for land claims, treaty rights cases and status claims. Lined up neatly are all of HBC's successive charters until 1970 — each a marker in the company's 355-year history. But missing is the story's first chapter: the original 1670 Royal Charter. 'We know exactly where it belongs in our system,' Epp told the Globe and Mail. 'We think of (the charter) as part of our records in a way already because … we've got the rest of the story and so we feel like it makes sense for the charter to be here and to be as publicly accessible as any of the other records.' The year 1994 was another eventful one for the HBC's collections. That's when the company officially transferred the HBCA to the Archives of Manitoba, which had managed it for 20 years. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Drawers full of HBC blankets and sashes. It's also when The Beaver — whose triumphantly colonial tone had softened over the decades — became independent from HBC and when the company entrusted a vast but incomplete collection of its cultural objects to the Manitoba Museum. The most famous is the 16-metre replica of the Nonsuch, the ketch that sailed into Hudson Bay in 1668-69, commissioned by HBC to celebrate its tercentenary in 1970. It was gifted to the museum in 1973. But after visitors explore the ship's intricate carvings, cramped living quarters and muzzle-loading smoothbore guns, hopefully they'll wander over to the museum's HBC Gallery. There they'll find brass tokens used as currency in the fur trade, a Plains hide dress and birch-bark canoe, and an array of other Indigenous and colonial objects related to navigation, exploration, retail and trade — just a segment of the museum's massive HBC collection. Amelia Fay, curator of anthropology and the HBC Museum Collection at the museum, worries that if what's left of HBC's collection ends up in private hands it could hinder the study of key parts of colonial and Canadian history. 'To me, breaking up a collection breaks up that story,' she says. 'And then, of course, there's obvious ethical concerns. If there are Indigenous belongings — those going without consultation (is) perpetuating a colonial harm that museums are grappling with today. We're trying to repair those harms by reconnecting communities to belongings and looking into repatriation and rematriation.' In May, the museum formally apologized to First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities for holding ancestral remains and belongings in its collections without consent. It further committed to repatriating more than 40 ancestors through its 'Homeward Journey' initiative. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Samples of wood carvings to be sold in the stores. As for its HBC collection, Fay explains that a key part of her job is doing detective work — piecing together patchy clues to trace the communities HBC employees visited in the 1920s while collecting for the company's new museum. Some pieces may have been purchased from their makers, but given the deep power imbalances, those deals can echo the dubious terms under which land was signed over to colonial powers. Fay says when her team tracks down descendants of the original creators, some ask for the artifacts back right away. Others want the museum to keep and care for them, at least for the time being. 'I think it's an important role museums can play: we can be this intermediary space where things can be safe, they can be publicly accessible,' she says. 'People can come and learn from them, and when the time is right, on the various levels that may be, then they can eventually find their way home.' While HBC has been ordered to hand over its auction catalogue to the courts and to the AMC, whether it will willingly return items widely considered sacred or rightfully belonging to Indigenous communities or the public remains an open question. Cultural property is often cited as one of the world's largest unregulated markets, and Canada is no exception. 'We do not have any legislative or legal framework in Canada at the national level for anything related to repatriation… which is what makes it a bit difficult,' says Janis Kahentóktha Bomberry, executive director and chief executive officer for the Canadian Museum Association (CMA). MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS The Hudson's Bay Company became maior distributors of contemporary Inuit art. A small number of carvings are represented in the museum collection. The association has vocally supported the AMC and criticized HBC's auction plan. 'But there are standards where we're asking for the full return of cultural belongings to occur with the involvement of appropriate Indigenous nations and as equal partners,' she says. Bomberry is referring to the CMA's 2022 report titled Moved to Action: Activating UNDRIP in Museums, whose guidelines surrounding repatriation reflect the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action. But like the international rights frameworks they draw on, the CMA's report is more of a moral manual than a rule book. This means the responsibility to research provenance, an expensive and chronically underfunded task, and pursue repatriation and rematriation falls primarily on collectors and museums. It's a bit like asking a company to bankroll an audit that could show it's been profiting from looted goods, and hoping their conscience kicks them into action. Not every museum or collector is going to show the right stuff. Still, Canadian law offers a window of hope to Indigenous and public stakeholders: depending on what the federal review decides, some of HBC's corporate collection could be designated 'cultural property' — blocking its export and keeping it in the country. At that point, it's feasible that philanthropists might step in, purchasing key works and donating them to back to the appropriate Indigenous parties or public museums and archives. HBC seems to be promoting this apparent 'win-win' outcome. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Travel boxes featuring personal items that may have been included in a York boat crew member's kit. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. Adam Zalev, managing director of HBC's financial adviser Reflect Advisors, notes in an affidavit filed in April that 'government and quasi-governmental institutions, museums, universities, and high net worth individuals acting on their own accord or as potential benefactors to certain Canadian museums and institutions, have expressed interest in the art collection.' Some still resent the possibility that priceless and sacred artifacts could be reduced to dollar values. The forthcoming sale leads to unflattering parallels between the company's grand entrance more than 350 years ago and its hobbling exit today. 'This is a moment where the Hudson's Bay Company is conducting itself differently than it did, say, 40 years ago, when they clearly engaged in good faith and created a lasting structure with both the Archives of Manitoba… and then the Manitoba Museum,' says Perry, the historian. 'Here we are reliving in a tiny way, the Royal Charter of 1670 and the transfer of Rupert's Land of 1869-70 (where) the thoughts and experiences of peoples in these places are of the most minor consideration.' Conrad SweatmanReporter Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for outlets including The Walrus, VICE and Prairie Fire. Read more about Conrad. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
11-06-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Province adds $5M to Research Manitoba funding
Research Manitoba is getting $5 million more annually to create 'an intellectual property collective' and support scholars who specifically study artificial intelligence, information technology and data. A total of $18.9 million has been earmarked for the grant-collection agency in 2025-2026, the province announced in a news release Wednesday. A provincial spokesperson confirmed a portion of that funding will be designated to establish a collective that ensures Manitoba researchers can retain intellectual property related to major scientific breakthroughs. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES Innovation and New Technology Minister Mike Moroz said a $5-million top-up for Research Manitoba is necessary 'to rebuild' capacity for scientific breakthroughs. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Mike Moroz (River Heights), is sworn in as minister of innovation and new technology. Premier Wab Kinew expanded and shuffled his cabinet after a year in office during a ceremony Wednesday morning at the Manitoba Legislative Building. Mike Moroz, the MLA for River Heights, will lead the department of innovation and new technology, an entirely new division. The other two new members of cabinet are Mintu Sandhu (the Maples), who is now minister of the delivery of public services, and Nellie Kennedy (Assiniboia), who is now minister of sport, culture, heritage and tourism. Jamie Moses (St. Vital) is now minister of business, mining, trade and job creation. lan Bushie (Keewatinook) is now minister of natural resources. He remains the minister of Indigenous economic development. Glen Simard (Brandon East) is now minister of municipal and northern relations. Lisa Naylor (Wolseley) remains minister of transportation and infrastructure but is no longer minister of consumer protection and government services, the news release stated. Including the premier, there are now 19 cabinet members. Reporter: Carol Sanders 241113 - Wednesday, November 13, 2024. Jennifer Cleary, chief executive officer of the agency, called the changes 'a turning point for research in Manitoba.' 'It strengthens our foundation, accelerates innovation and ensures that Manitoba's brightest minds have the support they need to thrive right here at home. We are not just keeping pace — we are setting the pace,' Cleary said in a news release. Research Manitoba had lost significant spending power over the last decade. In 2015-2016, it received $17 million to support local research projects. The agency's annual allotment was $13.6 million when the NDP was elected in 2023. Local researchers have been calling on the Kinew government to reinstate Research Manitoba's funding in recent months as their colleagues in the United States grapple with budget cuts and political interference. Premier Wab Kinew invited disgruntled U.S. scientists to relocate north during a scrum with reporters at the legislature on March 28. Multiple petitions were launched in response to his comments. Hundreds of signatories urged the government to address status-quo research funding and local workforce challenges before recruiting international scholars. 'Research is not a luxury, but a vital investment in economic growth, resilience, and opportunities for all Manitobans,' said Robert Beattie, an assistant professor of biochemistry and medical genetics at the University of Manitoba. Beattie said he was 'thrilled' to learn the developments Wednesday. Innovation and New Technology Minister Mike Moroz said a $5-million top-up for Research Manitoba is necessary 'to rebuild' capacity for scientific breakthroughs. Moroz said additional investments in research chair positions will encourage high-calibre researchers to stay put and attract an influx of experts from the U.S. Tuesdays A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world. Research Manitoba, previously housed under the department of advanced education and training, has been moved to his department. The shift is being touted as a way to position the province as a leader in 21st-century digital governance and expand research into cloud computing and data analytics, among related areas. Every dollar spent on research in Manitoba is estimated to yield upwards of $4 in economic benefits. Based on a review of its grants between 2010 and 2015, Research Manitoba has pegged the return on the dollar at $4.77. Maggie MacintoshEducation reporter Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie. Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative. Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
11-06-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba to announce tax extension for wildfire-affected businesses
Voluntary tax deferrals for businesses impacted by wildfires will be announced by the province Wednesday, the Free Press has learned. A source confirmed late Tuesday that the government will offer optional deferrals of the retail sales tax and payroll tax (the health and post-secondary education tax levy) to help businesses affected by the unprecedented emergency that has forced 21,000 Manitobans to flee 27 communities. A similar measure was announced by the province in March in response to U.S. tariffs, with such deferrals available from February through July. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES Manitoba Finance Minister Adrien Sala. Details of the program related to wildfires will be made public Wednesday. Meanwhile, Manitoba businesses dealing with the fallout from an early, raging fire season have been waiting for the province to say if and how it will provide any government support. 'We have been hearing a lot of concern about the level of uncertainty — especially from tourism operators who are fearful they will miss out on the entire 2025 season,' said Canadian Federation of Independent Business spokesperson Brianna Solberg. She wrote to Finance Minister Adrien Sala on June 2 asking if the province would consider any specific cost relief or recovery measures for impacted small businesses. Flexibility on provincial tax and fee payments and remittances for affected businesses — such as retail and payroll tax deferrals — was one of the requests made in the letter. It also asked for emergency financial assistance or recovery grants and sought assurances that wildfire-impacted small businesses are eligible for Disaster Financial Assistance. It also requested co-ordination with federal counterparts to ensure Manitoba businesses are eligible for any national wildfire relief programs. Solberg said Tuesday she had yet to receive a response. Sala wouldn't talk about specific supports for businesses when brought up by the Free Press. 'Right now, the focus continues to be on keeping people safe and supporting individuals who've been impacted by the wildfires,' the minister said Tuesday. Sala noted there is $50 million in this year's budget for emergency expenditures and 'a number of relevant departments' have funding available. A separate budget for contingencies is $38.6 million. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor. 'This wildfire season has been worse than many in recent memory, so we are seeing steady use of our existing budget lines to help respond to these challenges,' the minister said. He said the government would have a better idea about the cost of this wildfire season in September. 'It's still early days. I can say that I think we budgeted accordingly and have the resources needed to make sure that we can do what we need to do to take care of Manitobans during this challenging time.' Despite the impact of U.S. tariffs and provincial wildfires hurting the bottom line, Sala said the province still aims to balance the books in his first term. 'We're still committed to balancing the budget,' Sala said. The leader of the Progressive Conservatives said the response from the provincial government was lacking. 'They can be committed all they want, but we all are clearly seeing that the NDP are saying whatever they have to say and not doing the hard work behind the scenes,' Obby Khan said Tuesday. Weekday Mornings A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day. He pointed to Lisa Naylor, the minister responsible for the Emergency Management Organization, who said Manitobans hosting conventions or planning family trips should postpone them until later this summer to ensure there are enough hotel spaces for evacuees. 'Dozens of businesses have called me today, and text-messaged me that this government seems to make announcements and policies without doing their proper due diligence and consultation,' Khan said. 'It seems like they haven't spoken to many businesses, many industry leaders and it's evident with the minister coming out and asking people to reconsider or forego their travel to Manitoba when many of these operators really rely on this tourism and summer revenue and some of them are nowhere near the fires.' MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Progressive Conservative leader Obby Khan. The president and CEO of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce said Naylor's plea took some by surprise. 'I think that the government is trying to do the best they can in the current situation,' Chuck Davidson said Tuesday. 'Obviously with the wildfire situation and the number of people that have been evacuated… it's trying to do everything possible to make sure that there's accommodation.' At the same time, tourism operators can't afford to lose guests, Davidson said. 'Some of these businesses are going to need those additional revenues to make sure that they can continue to operate moving forward.' Naylor said Tuesday that the province is housing evacuees in 68 hotels and motels in 14 communities across the province. 'We're looking everywhere for options if they're needed,' Naylor said. 'We're really at the beginning of the wildfire season. We don't know how this is going to go, and we don't know what's going to happen next… So we are trying to keep hotel rooms and motel rooms available as much as possible for evacuees.' Carol SandersLegislature reporter Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol. Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
07-06-2025
- Climate
- Winnipeg Free Press
Air quality warnings impacting Manitoba amateur, professional athletes alike
This year's Manitoba High School Athletic Association Provincial Track and Field Championships have been cancelled due to ongoing air quality concerns caused by wildfires in the province, making conditions unsafe. More than 1,500 athletes from grades 9 through 12 were set to compete in the three-day competition planned for June 5–7 at University Stadium on the University of Manitoba campus. The MHSAA had originally postponed all scheduled events on Thursday to Friday, hoping air quality would improve, but updated at 6:15 a.m. today that the event would be cancelled entirely. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS This is the first time the Manitoba Provincial Track and Field Championships have been cancelled over unsafe air quality levels from wildfire smoke. The MHSAA air quality protocol states, 'Poor air quality can impact the health and performance of outdoor sport participants, including athletes, coaches and sports officials. The MHSAA recognizes the potential short and long-term health effects of engaging in physical activity outdoors when the air quality is poor, and is fully committed to reducing the risk posed to outdoor sport participants to help contribute to safer outdoor activities and events.' Chad Falk, the executive director of the MHSAA, said that, unfortunately, rescheduling is not an option. 'The nature of the event and how many athletes, the unique venue, access to officials, access to venues, kids travelling from all over the province, it was just impossible to look at finding a way to reschedule it,' said Falk. 'Especially with time constraints heading into the end of June with exams, all those types of things.' The only other times the MHSAA track and field provincials were outright cancelled were during COVID years in 2020 and 2021. While there have been previous schedule changes and event condensing due to weather, such as severe rain or thunderstorms, there has never been a cancellation caused by smoke. 'I think this is definitely going to become a reality for us for outdoor sports moving forward,' said Falk. The MHSAA uses real-time data from PurpleAir sensors, which are spread across North America, to monitor air quality, including two located at Princess Auto Stadium. Data from Environment Canada and recommendations from Health Canada are also consulted. If the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) reaches eight or higher at any point during an event, the MHSAA pauses competition. 'It's heartbreaking,' said Falk. 'Especially for the Grade 12s, this was their finale to high school sport… It's always a great wind up, in a sense, of a school year, celebration of high school sport, and it's sad not to see it move forward.' Other Winnipeg outdoor sports have been affected by wildfire smoke, including last week's Winnipeg Blue Bombers pre-season game against the Roughriders in Regina, which was delayed by an hour until air quality improved due to wildfires burning in Saskatchewan. And on Wednesday, Bombers practice was forced indoors to the WSF South building due to the poor air quality caused by the Manitoba wildfires. Next door at Princess Auto Stadium, Valour FC's 11 a.m. kickoff against Vancouver FC was pushed back 30 minutes as the AQHI was hovering around 12. On Sunday, Valour had a match that was pushed back two-and-a-half hours for the same reason. It's a situation the Valour and the Bombers may very well face this season if the issue persists. Ruth Bonneville / Free Press On Wednesday, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers practice was forced indoors to the WSF South building due to the poor air quality caused by the Manitoba wildfires. For the Bombers, under CFL regulations if the AQHI reaches eight or above using Environment Canada metrics during warmups or games, the onsite League Representative will enact the league's air quality procedure, which includes automatically stopping the game and sending teams to their dressing rooms. 'We've come up with some pretty good protocols and we observe it well,' said Bombers long snapper Mike Benson on Wednesday, a CFLPA representative. 'I don't think we get distracted by it at all. We just know we have to get our work done no matter where we are. It's a relatively new protocol, it's only been around for a couple of years.' 'We're always tinkering with it to find the best solution, the fastest results, so we're not debating on the phone up to a minute before the game. But unfortunately, just like any kind of weatherman, you can't predict what's going to go on. All we can do is adapt, persevere and be OK with it as a team.' Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. The Winnipeg Goldeyes have had no interruptions, playing yesterday at Blue Cross Park despite an air quality warning issued by Environment Canada and an AQHI index of 10 at game time, which began at 6:30 p.m. The Fish ended up losing the three-game series and the series finale against the Kane County Cougars 1-2. There is currently no air quality regulations in place for the Goldeyes, however, they do offer ticket exchanges for people who can't attend games due to health conditions. The Fish are scheduled to open their next homestand tonight against the Kansas City Monarchs with first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. — with files from Taylor Allen
