WINNIPEG — North America’s oldest company with fur-trading roots is transferring what was one of its flagship stores to a First Nations group in what is being praised as an example of reconciliation in action.
Animal pelts, blankets and other items were exchanged in a lengthy ceremony Friday marking the handover of the Hudson’s Bay Co. building in Winnipeg. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson and chiefs from across southern Manitoba attended.
“Today’s announcement is about more than just a building. It’s actually about rebuilding — rebuilding trust, rebuilding landmarks, rebuilding relationships,” Trudeau said.
Richard Baker, the company’s governor and executive chairman, acknowledged Hudson’s Bay’s involvement in colonialism.
“The impact of our company’s history is not at all lost on me and is part of the reason we are all here today,” Baker said.
“We must meet our words with actions. This is why I know that this (agreement) is the right one.”
The Southern Chiefs’ Organization, which represents 34 First Nations communities, is to take over the former store, which opened in 1926 and closed in 2020.
Grand Chief Jerry Daniels said repurposing the building is a major turning point.
“We’re turning the page (on) what reconciliation means and … Baker is showing leadership. I hope that the rest of the country follows his lead,” Daniels said.
The six-storey, 60,000-square-metre building is to be transformed to include almost 300 affordable housing units, a child-care centre, a museum, an art gallery and restaurants.
There are also plans for a health centre offering western and traditional medicine, a governance office for the 34 First Nations and a place of reflection to honour victims of residential schools.
The federal government is putting up $65 million in a combination of forgivable and low-interest loans. The Manitoba government is offering $10 million for the housing project and access to a previously announced $25-million fund to help preserve and restore the historic building.
Winnipeg is also considering a financial contribution that would probably include tax breaks, but details have not yet been worked out.
HBC, now a holding company with real estate, department stores and e-commerce operations, started in 1670 as a fur- trading business. Its complex history is closely tied to colonial expansion, as it established an exclusive and exploitative trading monopoly with Indigenous Peoples.
The fur trade created a reliance on European-made goods and introduced diseases that devastated Indigenous populations.
The company also claimed sovereignty over much of the land, which it sold to the government of Canada after Confederation as the company increased focus on retail expansion.
“The Hudson’s Bay Co. has made a lot of money through dispossession in Western Canada,” said Sean Carleton, assistant professor of history and Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba.
“The store downtown … is kind of a symbol of that.”
The Winnipeg building — one of the company’s “original six” flagship department stores — had been in decline for many years.
It received heritage designation in 2019 but a valuation that same year found the building was worth $0 due to the significant investment needed. HBC closed the store for good in November 2020.
A major hurdle for any new development is that the building dates back almost a century, has a heritage status that limits certain renovations and needs major work to bring it up to code.
Baker said HBC had received proposals from six different groups to take over the property.
“During the pandemic when the world was on pause, we were able to get a proposal from the (Southern Chiefs’ Organization) and hear their vision. And their vision felt like the right way forward.”
The project’s working title is Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn, or “it is visible.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2022.
— With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone in Winnipeg and Brett Bundale in Halifax
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
