Stephen Bowen’s account of the Hudson’s Bay Company – founded in 1670 with an absurdly grandiose charter – is both rollicking and remarkably modern. It encompasses global trade, commercial competition, supply management, complex logistics, conflicting political agendas, cultural diversity and inclusion, employee retention and motivation, and, as beavers were trapped out of existence, environmental sustainability.
The Company is an important Canadian business book because it provides a colourful chronicle of the once-mighty Hudson’s Bay Company monopoly that, long before Canada was a nation, framed its society, economy, and culture – with a very healthy dose of geopolitical intrigue to boot.
It is an even more important book because, unlike the Canadian history we all learned in school, its author tells a tale that fully and correctly incorporates the essential and integral role played by First Nations from the very start. The various tribes and their leaders were partners in the truest sense, and the relationship they had with the residents of the first British trading posts was respectfully co-dependent. In fact, the history of the Hudson’s Bay Company belongs every bit as much to Canada’s First Nations as it does to the French and English traders, trappers and settlers.
Not surprisingly, the culture and communities of First Nations and the British soon began to meld. “Relationships with the hosts of that foreign land were at the heart of life and business at the posts,” explains Bowen. It’s a reality that literally gave birth to the Metis Nation.
A hybrid culture emerged that incorporated aspects of British and Indigenous practices. “…a sort of hybrid justice system prevailed, mostly following the customs of the Indigenous people, but with a gloss of English ceremony.” A serious social contract evolved over time: “This arrangement of mutual obligation required a great deal of trust and respect by both parties: for one, that their material needs would be looked after in times of need, and for the other, that the loan of equipment and supplies would eventually be repaid.”
Over time, the reliance on trade, disease and other factors began to impact the Indigenous cultures around the trading posts. That was all shaken up when, “By the mid 18th Century, the Company was faced with the commercial necessity of changing their corporate culture from passive contentment to aggressively seeking opportunities inland. In a reversal of the usual corporate pattern, the Company was moving from unexciting stability to unpredictable growth.” It was still profitable, but it had started to decline.
With the construction of two inland posts – Henley House and Cumberland House – the Company’s management had made the decision to expand its customer base and go to that customer, rather than waiting for the customer to come to them. The search for the NorthWest Passage – long on the political and commercial agenda - also amped up. Just as the Company was at this inflection point, a plucky start-up was launched in 1779: The NorthWest Company.
Echoing current times, the NorthWest Company was a significant threat in part because of its flexible, responsive structure. While the Company was “entrenched and bureaucratic” with its “rigid command structure and generally low-paid employees who lacked authority” the Nor’Westers “were a loose affiliation of individualists who shared in the profits.”
Eventually, the two companies merged. As with all mergers, there was a clear winner: the Company got the upper hand in terms of the board and returns for its shareholders. But the opportunistic, profit-driven culture of the Nor’Westers took root and that included a mindset that viewed the Indigenous peoples in a proprietary sense.
The end of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s monopoly was a direct function of the formation of Canada. Giving into the demands of Sir John A. Macdonald, the Company agreed to surrender its land rights to the British Crown, which transferred them to Canada – opening a chapter in our history that has grown steadily darker for generations.
That transfer completely overlooked any rights of the Indigenous communities directly affected. “The challenging legacy of dealing with Indigenous title to traditional territories was left to the new Canadian government.” And we all know how that went.
