‘They didn’t just want furs’: Okanagan Indigenous leader talks looming closure of The Bay – Castanet
Mar 20, 2025
As the future of Canada’s oldest company remains up in the air and closures loom, Okanagan Indian Band Chief Byron Louis says the only surprising part of The Bay going under is how long it took.
The Bay was in court Wednesday seeking permission to close all of it’s stores amid financial struggles.
The Hudson’s Bay Company began in 1670 as a fur trading company, and is considered instrumental in shaping modern-day Canada.
While the retail store filing for creditor protection today is different from the colonial fur trapping entity it once was, some members of the Indigenous community have continued to see the company as a symbol of colonization.
