By Jacob Richard
“Present patriotism by supporting the Hudson’s Bay Firm,” declares a current letter to the editor within the Vancouver Solar. Lamenting the information that the Hudson’s Bay Firm (HBC) is on the verge of economic collapse, the letter author argues that there’s “nothing extra tragic to turning into the 51st state than to see the Hudson’s Bay shut for good.” With the US-Canada commerce battle dominating headlines, if Canadians “actually wish to present their devoted patriotism and loyalty to our nation … then get right down to your native Hudson’s Bay retailer.”
So, right here we’re in the course of a North American commerce battle, and Canadians are being given a providential activity. As the HBC places one foot within the grave, it seems – for some – as if Canadians should resurrect this fallen icon themselves. However what will we owe this “Canadian” behemoth? Does a commerce battle justify our loyalty to ageing imperial icons?
As Robert Engelbert lately argued for Lively Historical past, there’s nothing actually “unprecedented” in regards to the commerce battle of right this moment. By tariffs, boycotts, threats, and even a couple of actual invasions, Canada has all the time held agency with america.
The reality is, we live in solely precedented instances. Whereas the main points could differ, poor Canada-US relations are a return to normalcy. It’s our current cooperation that stands proud as novel, not this present souring of affairs.
Akin to Canada-US relations, the HBC and Indigenous peoples have additionally been biking by way of durations of cooperation and antagonism for over 350 years. A legacy that, lengthy and impactful, is worthy of our consideration, particularly with the eerily parallel re-introduction of bison again onto the Canadian plains.
Reasonably than give it life-support, possibly it’s time we are saying goodbye to the HBC. However earlier than we do, let’s rapidly look again on the former precedent of our bison.
The Bison Precedent
In November 1825, Gen. Henry Atkinson of america Military lastly completed his lengthy and arduous tour alongside the higher Missouri River. Efficiently treating with the Indigenous nations that lived there, Atkinson despatched a proper request to William H. Ashley to offer him with a “sketch of the nation.” Ashley’s Rocky Mountain Fur Firm (RMFC) was starting to attract severe curiosity from america authorities, particularly concerning his ground-breaking expeditions throughout the Rockies.
Writing again to Atkinson on December 1st, Ashley described a rustic the place the “climate was positive, [and] the valleys actually lined with buffaloe.” In truth, the bison weren’t simply “innumerable” but additionally key to summer season and winter journey. Ashley recalled:
“The snow was now so deep that had it not been for the quite a few herds of buffaloe shifting down the river, we couldn’t presumably have proceeded. The paths of those animals have been beat on both facet of the river and afforded a simple passage to our horses. These animals have been primarily helpful to us in one other respect … leaving the grass uncovered to view, which was the one nourishment our horses may receive.”[1]
Reasonably famously, it didn’t take lengthy for the bison inhabitants to break down. Whereas the longer model of this acquainted story is drained, it’s value noting that the bison inhabitants bottlenecked in simply over half a century.[2] Below the care of buying and selling corporations just like the HBC and RMFC, bison have been killed en masse to gas a massively overtaxed buying and selling community. Whether or not for pemmican, robes, or for insurance policies designed to take away Indigenous peoples from their lands, the bison suffered massively within the late 19th century. By 1889, there have been just a few hundred left.
With that in thoughts, we have to perceive that the disappearance of the buffalo is the irregularity. This transformation symbolized a divergence from a protracted custom of plentiful bison.
Return of the Buffalo
Now for some excellent news: a current CBC article on the return of bison from Yellowstone to Canada. This yr, eleven plains bison from the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana have been delivered to the Mosquito, Grizzly Bear’s Head, Lean Man (MGBHLM) First Nation in Saskatchewan. These eleven bison “will be part of 22 plains bison the neighborhood obtained from Elk Island Nationwide Park in Alberta in 2023,” bolstering the continuing effort to repopulate North America with its native bison herds.
This switch of bison is a part of the 2014 “Buffalo Treaty,” which is a multi-nation settlement to “acknowledge BUFFALO as a wild free-ranging animal and as an necessary a part of the ecological system; to offer a protected house and surroundings throughout our historic homelands, on either side of america and the Canadian border, so collectively WE can have our brother, the BUFFALO, lead us in nurturing our land.”
Greater than only a herd, these bison are serving to these Assiniboine reconnect with their Nakota kin in america. In that very same article, MGBHLM Chief Tanya Stone reiterated her perception that “if we come collectively as a Nakota individuals and nation to nation and alliances, it … strengthens us as a individuals.” She mentioned that for her neighborhood, “seeing [the bison] on the highway and crossing the border was a dream come true.” Removed from problematic, the border crossing is an emblem of hope and burgeoning alliances for these resurgent plains nations.
Conclusion
In distinction to current occasions, this trade of bison represents a return to the precedent. The precedent has been the abundance of bison in North America. The precedent has additionally been multi-national Indigenous alliances. For 1000’s of years, bison swarmed this continent and have been the heartbeat to Indigenous tradition and politics on the plains. The absence of bison, not their current re-introduction, is the aberration.
On the similar time, the loss of life rattle of the HBC may be a return to regular. With the HBC on the best way out and the bison on the rise, nature appears to be therapeutic. The lengthy scar of colonialism nonetheless haunts Canada, however the rise and fall of those North American symbols ought to reassure us that the continent is decolonizing, in its personal poetic means.
We live in solely precedented instances. Now greater than ever, historical past appears to offer us the reassurance we have to push onwards. Just like the bison returning to Canada, one thing doesn’t must be “unprecedented” to be necessary. Generally, being precedented makes it much more so.
Jacob Richard is a Historical past Ph.D. Candidate at Queen’s College. An Acadian from Thunder Bay, he researches the fur commerce in nineteenth-century North America.
Prompt Studying
Benchetrit, Jenna. “ Hudson’s Bay is in limbo after submitting for creditor safety. Right here’s what you must know.” CBC, 2025.
Colpitts, George. Pemmican Empire: Meals, Commerce, and the Final Bison Hunts within the North American Plains, 1780-1882. New York: Cambridge College Press, 2014.
Daschuk, James. Clearing the Plains: Illness, Politics of Hunger, and the Lack of Aboriginal Life. Regina: College of Regina Press, 2013.
Englebert, Robert. “Trump wants a historical past lesson. Perhaps all of us do.” Lively Historical past, 2025.
Hoy, Benjamin. A Line of Blood and Filth: Creating the Canada-United States Border Throughout Indigenous Lands. New York: Oxford College Press, 2021.
[1] William H. Ashley, “The Ashley Narrative,” in The Ashley-Smith explorations and the invention of a central path to the Pacific, 1822-1829, with the unique journals, by Harrison C. Dale (Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Firm, 1918), 123.
[2] See George Colpitts’ Pemmican Empire or James Daschuk’s Clearing the Plains.
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