ItSA国际影视传媒檚 been a while since ISA国际影视传媒檝e written home.
Recently, I started going through my SA国际影视传媒淭he BeaverSA国际影视传媒� magazine collection and felt inspired to write about a summary of each issue. This collection is a valuable commodity now that itSA国际影视传媒檚 out of print.
The Beaver magazine covered stories about the northernmost regions. The collection was given to me by an old rich woman in West Vancouver who had no need for them. She had them sitting in her garage in boxes collecting dust, mould and mice droppings.
The first random issue I chose to review from my collection is from the winter of 1973. On the front cover of the magazine is a man in a barn shovelling hay. The articles inside are about the railway from Edmonton to Fort McMurray; a possible unsuspected killer on board an exploration ship; and a story called 'Temples in the Wilderness,' which showcases different churches across Manitoba and B.C. that were built in Indigenous communities.
WhatSA国际影视传媒檚 disturbing is how the author of the latter article speaks about how the church served as a location to punish villagers who misbehaved, stating that the culprits would have their hands tied behind their backs and were left to stand in front of the entire church only to be ridiculed by those who passed by. In another section of the article, the author states that if a man wrote a love song to a woman it was considered a promise of marriage, and if he broke that promise he would be tied up and left in front of the church to await punishment.
One man who broke his marriage vows was SA国际影视传媒渢reated with such hostility and brutality that he died within the day.SA国际影视传媒� Perhaps with the same rope, the church would recruit Indigenous men and women to help pull big logs to erect the very churches that committed such crimes. The article makes it seem as though the community members were willing participants, but I suspect that they were forced, or, at the very least, coerced into labouring away to build the very churches that had the power to break them apart.
On the back of the issue is a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) advertisement with a photo of a man in a black hat with a large belt across it. He looks liked a leprechaun wrapped in a striped blanket sitting in what looks to be the hull of a ship. On the other side of the page there is a photo of a herd of buffalo running in the snow next to a slogan that reads, 'Great men SA国际影视传媒� past and present SA国际影视传媒� build a great company.'
Biological warfare
Scholar Tolly Bradford explains that the HBC was connected to organized religion in the early 1800s, mandated with a corporate design where SA国际影视传媒渕any men were directed to hold prayers at the posts.SA国际影视传媒� Here's a bit about what I know of the HBC: the blankets that are still sold today in the department store were once used as biological warfare against Indigenous peoples as a form of colonial weaponry. How did they do this? Well, the British contaminated the blankets with smallpox before gifting them to the Indigenous peoples during the Cold War. You can find factual evidence of this on the History website.
I also know that the HBC outposts across the North are largely how the Metis originated. When working for the North Slave Metis Alliance as a teenager SA国际影视传媒� while Clem Paul was president and Kathy Arden was my boss SA国际影视传媒� one of my jobs was to photocopy the large 11x17 pages of the original Hudson's Bay record books. At the time, I didnSA国际影视传媒檛 know that these pages were being used in court as evidence to prove Metis heritage. I got many a paper cut going through those old records and my blood is permanently stained across some of the pages.
My great, great French grandfather, I believe, also worked for the HBC. Thankfully, he didnSA国际影视传媒檛 poison anyone and instead intermarried, attributing to the Metis growing in number. If he were one of the bad ones, I wouldnSA国际影视传媒檛 be here today. In my grandmotherSA国际影视传媒檚 birthplace, Old Fort Rae, there are many artifacts left over from the time of the fur trade.
ItSA国际影视传媒檚 no wonder I have conflicting viewpoints on the HBC. My grandma used to love shopping at the HBC in the mall when she would go down south. Whenever I would travel, she always asked to me to find her a pleated skirt or a pair of spiced queen-size tights from the department store. I wonder if she would still choose to shop there if she knew what the British did with the blankets back in the day SA国际影视传媒� as I shamefully purchase a winter jacket that is on sale to wear for the next time I go back home.
SA国际影视传媒擪atlia (Catherine) Lafferty is a published author and an Indigenous law student who grew up in Yellowknife.
