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The
Hudson's Bay Company Today
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Up until the
1960's Hudson's Bay Company stores were mostly in Western Canada.
In 1960 the company bought a chain of stores in Montreal and shortened
its name to the Bay. This began their growth into Eastern Canada.
By 1978, The Bay was the largest chain store in the country.
In 1970, the headquarters
of HBC was moved from London, England to Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Until 1991, the company was still involved in the fur trade. It
ran fur farms and was also involved in conservation
of fur bearing animals. By 1991, however, it left the fur trade
completely, selling all its northern trading posts.
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Whenever
a ruling king or queen of Britain visited Rupert's Land (later
part of Canada), Hudson's Bay Company Charter said that
HBC had to pay them a very unusual kind of rent: two black
beavers and one elk. This tradition continued until 1970, when
the Charter was moved from Britain to Canada.
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Today,
Hudson's Bay Company is still going strong. Its headquarters
are now in Toronto and it continues to change and adapt to new circumstances
by buying chains stores such as Zellers and selling or closing less
profitable parts of the company. It celebrated its 325th anniversary
in 1995 and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
As for the
fur trade, it too has changed. Gone are the days when the quest
for pelts drove men to explore further and further. Today, many
people see using animals for only their skins as cruel. As a result,
the fur market today is only a shadow of what it once was. Still,
we should remember how important it once was - for without the fur
trade, Canada would be a very different place today.
Links to more information…
…About
the explorers of Canada:
The National Library of Canada: Pathfinders
and Passageways
The
Virtual Museum of New France
…About
the exploration of the Northwest Passage:
Canadian
Arctic Profiles: Exploration
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How
has HBC changed since it first started in 1670?
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