Latest news with #HudsonBayCompany
BBC News
16-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Canada's iconic Hudson Bay brand to survive after sale to competitor
The Hudson Bay Company - Canada's oldest corporation - will sell its brand to another iconic national retailer, Canadian department store chain, which has applied for creditor protection, will sell its intellectual property for C$30m ($21.5m, £16.2m).The move comes after the company, also known as HBC, liquidated all its stores, citing a shifting retail landscape post-pandemic and US tariffs as insurmountable challenges. Canadian Tire is another major domestic retailer, with over 1,700 shops across the country that sell everything from sporting goods to hardware. Why shoppers are spending thousands on these blanketsAt stake is a brand that is over 350 years old. Founded in 1670, HBC was granted a royal charter to control trade in parts of Canada. The company began trading British-made wool "point" blankets emblazoned with stripes in blue, red, green and then morphed into a mid- and upper-range department store with key properties in several historic downtown buildings in cities across the country. It also began branding a plethora of products with those same point-blanket stripes, from teddy bears to it announced it would be closing down, demand for Hudson's striped products soared, with blankets especially selling for thousands on eBay. The resurgence of interest in the company, while it was on its last breath, sparked some hope that the brand may be able to make a comeback. The sale of its intellectual property - which includes in-house brands like Gluckstein and Distinctly Home - to Canadian Tire will ensure that the brand lives on, even if the physical shops do not.
CBC
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Should the Hudson's Bay Company be allowed to sell its Indigenous art?
Social Sharing The Hudson Bay Company has made a controversial decision to sell off its collection of Indigenous art and artifacts as part of its liquidation efforts. Today on Commotion, host Elamin Abdelmahmoud speaks with Indigenous Studies professor and Winnipeg Press columnist Niigaan James Sinclair about this decision and how it could impact Indigenous cultural preservation efforts. WATCH | Today's episode on YouTube:
CBC
27-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Federal government apologizes for 'profound harm' of Dundas Harbour relocations in Nunavut
The federal government has offered a long-awaited apology to Inuit families affected by the Dundas Harbour relocations in Nunavut nearly a century ago. Gary Anandasangaree, the federal minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, delivered the official apology at a ceremony in Arctic Bay, Nunavut, on Thursday afternoon. "We recognize and acknowledge the profound harm done to your families, your communities and your way of life, for taking you from your homes and families, for the hardships you endured and the displacement and ruptures of kinships," Anandasangaree said before a crowd gathered in the local community centre. "We offer our sincerest apology. We are sorry. We are sorry. Mamianaq." Among those gathered to hear the apology were descendants of some of the relocatees who have advocated for years for an official apology and recognition of the impact the forced moves had on their families and communities. The Dundas Harbour relocations were early examples of government-directed moves of Inuit. In 1934, according to the Qikiqtani Truth Commission, a ship carried 52 Inuit and 109 dogs from several Baffin Island communities — Kinngait, Pangnirtung and Pond Inlet — to Dundas Harbour, an abandoned RCMP post on Devon Island. A Hudson Bay Company clerk also went to operate a trading post there. A 2013 report from the Qikiqtani Truth Commission says the government's motives for the relocation were "complex." "Reopening Dundas Harbour made a sovereignty statement at little or no expense to Canada, and also brought Inuit to an unpopulated area from more southerly locations that were considered to be overhunted," the report reads. The move proved to be disastrous for the relocatees, as they faced harsh weather conditions and limited resources in the area that was unfamiliar to them. After two years, the Dundas Harbour trading post was abandoned, and some Inuit were taken back to Pangnirtung. Others would be moved again, several more times over the following years — to Arctic Bay, Fort Ross and Spence Bay — despite having been promised that they would be returned to their home communities. Anandasangaree acknowledged that the relocations, while considered "voluntary" at the time, were not in fact voluntary at all. He said the federal government "took advantage of its dominant position over Inuit living in the Arctic and moved them to further its geopolitical goals without due regard to the desires of the relocatees." "We understand better than ever that the power imbalance between the colonial government and its officials meant that participation in the relocation was not voluntary, and Inuit were not provided with accurate information to make informed decisions for themselves." Lucy Qavavauq, a descendant who's with the Dundas Harbour Relocation Society which had been advocating for the official apology, said it was "something that has been coming a very long time." Qavavauq said that while she welcomed the official apology, she wishes it "would have happened sooner." "It would have been great, ideal, for the elders that actually experienced it to be able to witness that apology," she said. In a statement on Thursday, Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok called the apology "an important step towards healing and reconciliation." "I want to encourage all Canadians to remember the sacrifices made by Inuit in the name of Arctic sovereignty. Teaching our children the truths about our country's past is an important step towards true healing and reconciliation for our country," the statement reads.
CBC
27-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Federal government apologizes for Dundas Harbour relocations in Nunavut
The federal government has offered a long-awaited apology to Inuit families affected by the Dundas Harbour relocations in Nunavut nearly a century ago. Gary Anandasangaree, the federal minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, delivered the official apology at a ceremony in Arctic Bay, Nunavut, on Thursday afternoon. "We recognize and acknowledge the profound harm done to your families, your communities and your way of life, for taking you from your homes and families, for the hardships you endured and the displacement and ruptures of kinships," Anandasangaree said before a crowd gathered in the local community centre. "The government of Canada took advantage of its dominant position over Inuit living in the Arctic and moved them to further its geopolitical goals without due regard to the desires of the relocatees or the impact that the move would have on them." The Dundas Harbour relocations were early examples of government-directed moves of Inuit. In 1934, according to the Qikiqtani Truth Commission, a ship carried 52 Inuit and 109 dogs from several Baffin Island communities — Kinngait, Pangnirtung and Pond Inlet — to Dundas Harbour, an abandoned RCMP post on Devon Island. A Hudson Bay Company clerk also went to operate a trading post there. A 2013 report from the Qikiqtani Truth Commission says the government's motives for the relocation were "complex." "Reopening Dundas Harbour made a sovereignty statement at little or no expense to Canada, and also brought Inuit to an unpopulated area from more southerly locations that were considered to be overhunted," the report reads. Two years later, however, the Dundas Harbour trading post was abandoned, and some Inuit were taken back to Pangnirtung. Others would be moved again, several more times, over the following years. Lucy Qavavauq, who's with the Dundas Harbour Relocation Society which had been advocating for the official apology, said it was "something that has been coming a very long time." Qavavauq said that while she welcomed the official apology, she wishes it "would have happened sooner."
