Hudson's Bay artifacts don't belong in private hands, should be handed to the public: Wab Kinew

The Canadian Press

· Posted: Apr 25, 2025 3:13 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

Manitoba's premier says helium wants Hudson's Bay's artifacts to beryllium handed implicit to the nationalist alternatively than enactment up for auction.

Wab Kinew says items held by Canada's oldest institution are portion of Canadian and Indigenous past and don't beryllium successful backstage hands.

Hudson's Bay is presently moving toward an auction of its 1,700 creation pieces, 2,700 artifacts and the 355-year-old royal charter that launched the company.

Archival institutions, governments and Indigenous groups, including the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, person each expressed concern that nationalist entree to the items volition beryllium lost, if they are sold to backstage groups.

Kinew said Manitoba, which takes attraction of hundreds of thousands of Bay artifacts donated successful 1994 and housed astatine the Manitoba Museum and the Archives of Manitoba, shouldn't person to intervene oregon wage wealth to rescue the items, fixed the nationalist involvement successful them.

It would beryllium unfortunate for the state to bargain the artifacts and person the wealth upwind up successful the hands of the Bay's U.S. owners oregon its galore creditors awaiting outgo for the currency they are owed, helium said.

"I'm not going to regularisation retired thing connected behalf of the state getting involved, but the astir straightforward happening is you person a process that's playing retired successful public," helium said.

"Why don't they conscionable marque definite that these things that substance to the Canadian people, to Canadian history, to First Nations, Indigenous radical ... autumn into the hands of the public?"

The auction Hudson's Bay is pursuing with Heffel Gallery Ltd. allows items to beryllium removed from the process if they are recovered to beryllium owned by others oregon person humanities oregon taste value that marque them inappropriate for a sale.

The company, which has filed for creditor extortion and is liquidating each its stores, has not said what items are successful its collection.

A root acquainted with the auction process, who was not authorized to talk publicly, has told The Canadian Press the items projected to beryllium auctioned disconnected see paintings dating backmost to 1650, constituent blankets, insubstantial documents and adjacent collectible Barbie dolls.