In 1820, Sir George Simpson landed in North America, knowing nothing about the fur trade but bringing with him many years of experience in the West Indian sugar industry. Despite his lack of fur-trade experience, he had been sent to help oversee the merger of the Hudson’s Bay Company with its long-time rival, the North West Company, a prosperous fur-trade company started in the 1770s and based in London and Montreal.
This is a part of Canada’s history that is not widely known. It deserves a greater place in the national narrative. It is corrective history, and vital that Canadians understand that slavery existed in the fur trade in Canada. The HBC, the North West Company and the XY all had strong roots in the violent slave-owning empires of England and France.
From the 17th century all the way through to the 19th century, on the basis of class, or caste, the colonizers built a segregated society in Canada. Simpson believed the nature and moral character of Indigenous peoples meant they needed to be “ruled with an iron fist” and kept in a “proper state of subordination.” In fact, he thought educating Indigenous peoples was a complete waste of time – that schooling, like religion, was just another distraction from the fur trade.
What is written in the history books shows there was little respect or regard for Indigenous women: They were rarely seen as equals. How many of our women – and I include those the history books have called “half-breeds” – were abused, lost and murdered during this time? Thrown away, treated as less than dogs? What happened back then speaks to how Indigenous women are still treated in this country.