#anyways go watch the other side of the ledger free on nfb for more insight into the continual colonial power of the hbc

[muirneach]

tbh the craziest thing to me about the canadian colonial empire is that the hudsons bay company (and yes the norwesters too but You Know. 1820 happened) was effectively running an corpocracy from the 1600s until 1869. like they owned ruperts land [ed note: all current canadian land from most of ontario through to the bc/alberta border]. you know who didn’t own ruperts land? literally any actual government (ie england and then canada from 67-69 before they bought it). who made the laws at a whim and controlled the courts and was not elected and controlled all money flow and most of the official employment? one single company. and not even that, the hbc was headquartered in london england since its founding and then had its canadian offices in montreal which is a long fucking way from the northwest when you only have horses canoes and feet to get you there so really it was just like. a couple managers and whatnot who got to control this entire world. and of it wasn’t bad enough then this legacy continues to this day because in remote indigenous communities the only store is the local hbc store! who still get to charge whatever they see fit and constantly rip off people