Peter Pitseolak Untitled (1939) Watercolour 12.6 x 18.1 cm REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION DORSET FINE ARTS COURTESY IAF © THE ARTIST
I also remember hearing stories of my mother’s generation doing the exact same thing, similar stories of the anticipation of the annual supply and the excitement around unloading the barge. It is appropriate to say that the presence of The Bay has been a part of multiple generations of Inuit across Inuit Nunangat. An untitled 1939 watercolour by Peter Piseolak (1902–1973) depicts Inuit walrus hunting from a Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) boat, one of several artworks by Pitseolak that references HBC boats and buildings. Similar references to the HBC in Inuit art can be found in drawings, prints, wallhangings and carvings by different artists throughout Inuit art history. These references express the complex relationship between Inuit communities and the HBC, highlighting the company’s profound and enduring impact on Inuit society. 

In a 1991 interview about the RMS Nascopie, an HBC supply ship, Igluligaarjuk Elder Mary Nuvak described how community supplies were unloaded and brought ashore. Nuvak explained that in Igluligaarjuk, “they didn’t have barges to bring the supplies ashore. What they would do is tie two boats together and they would pile on the supplies,” using the two boats as a sort of barge. [1] These boats, relics from the whaling days, continued to be used for many years even after the last whaling ship left the Hudson Bay area. Their use is visible in works like Nascopie Reef (1989) by Napachie Pootoogook (1938–2002), which portrays the RMS Nascopie. An HBC supply ship built in 1911 with a history of diverse use, the Nascopie sank in 1947 when it hit a reef outside of Kinngait, [2] yet its sinking is depicted many decades later by Pootoogook, highlighting HBC’s lasting impact on the community.  

Napachie Pootoogook Nascopie Reef (1989) Printmaker Aoudla Pudlat Lithograph 40.6 x 50.8 cm REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION DORSET FINE ARTS COURTESY WADDINGTON’S AUCTIONEERS AND APPRAISERS, TORONTO © THE ARTIST 
During the early settlement era in Nunavut, Igluligaarjuk was one of the first places to have a HBC store, which was established in 1911. A Roman Catholic Mission was also established there in 1912, making Igluligaarjuk a hub for Inuit in the eastern Arctic. This was the beginning of the HBC expansion into the Arctic. Ultimately, the presence of an HBC post meant Inuit congregated in the area to be closer to the HBC’s supplies, such as flour and ammunition. Nancy Sevoga illustrates this process in Coming to the Hudson Bay Trading Post and Igloo Hotel (1999), providing a snapshot of the early days of colonialism in Nunavut. Like many parts of North America, the HBC influenced where settlements and cities were built. 

Nancy Sevoga Coming to the Hudson Bay Trading Post and Igloo Hotel (1999) Wool felt and embroidery floss on wool cloth 74.9 x 97.8 cm COURTESY MARION SCOTT GALLERY © THE ARTIST
The HBC was founded in 1670 and is Canada’s oldest company. It began as a fur trading company, and later transitioned into retail in the mid 19th century. HBC had monopoly over what was then called Rubert’s Land, surrendering to the Dominion of Canada in 1869. Up until this time, HBC was the de facto government over Rubert’s Land, closely tying it to the colonization of sovereign Indigenous nations and lands.

The HBC used tokens as a form of currency in their transactions with Indigenous people. In the south, the HBC used tokens that equaled one beaver pelt. In the Arctic, the aluminum tokens were in decimal form, in denominations of 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents and 100 cents. [3] They were introduced in the Eastern Arctic in 1946, most likely because people were not trading beaver in the Arctic and there was a need for smaller denominations. 

Ruth Annaqtuusi Tulurialik The Bay (1982-5) Pencil crayon COURTESY IAF © THE ARTIST

These aluminum tokens are depicted in Ruth Annaqtuusi Tulurialik’s The Bay (1982-5), a drawing which effortlessly portrays how the Inuit settlement history is entangled in the HBC presence in the Arctic. In Annaqtuusi’s work, Inuit are gathered outside the post, presumably before settlement life, as the Inuit depicted are there to trade their fox pelts. Inside, the Bay Manager smiles, counting the pelts and laying out tokens on the counter. At this time, Inuit did not yet use cash as a means of trade, and the tokens were a visual representation of the value of pelts that were being traded for goods.      

The introduction of Western capitalism and the encroachment into Inuit Nunangat by the HBC, along with the Canadian Government and Christian churches, brought both advantages and detrimental consequences to Inuit. While access to the HBC’s goods offered certain benefits, it’s crucial to acknowledge the potential for this interest to have fostered a dependence that significantly disrupted Inuit traditional land-based practices. This colonization of Inuit and Inuit Nunangat by these entities, including the HBC, ultimately fostered economic monopolies, exemplifying the detrimental elements of their presence, namely colonialism. 

Taqialuq Nuna Woman With Furs to Trade (1996) REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION DORSET FINE ARTS COURTESY IAF © THE ARTIST
Prior to the colonization of Inuit Nunangat, Inuit thrived through ingenious and sophisticated engineering (such as clothing design that kept people warm) and architecture (such as igluit and qajait), deep connection to the land and environment and a strong social structure. Oral traditions played a vital role in knowledge transmission and cultural values. Inuit life was deeply and traumatically interrupted with colonialism, including the disruption of traditional practices and changes in societal structure, loss of land and resources, forced assimilation and economic dependence. Inuit art has depicted these deep societal changes in meaningful and robust ways. Sculptures like  Mark Pitseolak Sr.’s (1945–2012) Hudson’s Bay Trader Scene (2011) and Taqialuq Nuna’s Woman With Furs to Trade (1996) show how visiting HBC posts to engage in trade was a core part of the colonial process in the Arctic, providing visual representations of the intertwined histories of the HBC and colonialism with Inuit life.

Qavavau Manumie Hudson’s Bay Store (2006–7) Pencil crayon and ink 50.9 x 66.6 cm REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION DORSET FINE ARTS COURTESY FEHELEY FINE ARTS © THE ARTIST
As part of its colonial and economic presence, HBC also has a close connection to the history of Inuit art production. In the 1950s the HBC began to collect Inuit art through their stores across the North, which ultimately became the foundation for their corporate collection. [4] In 1948, James Houston, OC, visited Nunavik with the intention to purchase Inuit sculptures for the Canadian Handicrafts Guild in Montreal, QC. The art was exhibited for the Handicrafts Guild with great success. [5] From 1950 to 1955, Houston promoted Inuit art throughout the eastern and central Arctic for Southern audiences as a desirable thing to own. Initially funded by government grants, he served as a traveling crafts officer for the Handicrafts Guild between 1950 and 1952. Houston also facilitated a partnership with the HBC in 1950: the Handicrafts Guild provided funds to the HBC to purchase Inuit sculptures at their northern stores and, in return, Inuit received credit at these stores. While the Handicrafts Guild initially held a monopoly on selling Inuit art and crafts in the south, the HBC became a major retailer after 1952, purchasing an annual quota from the Handicrafts Guild.

Mark Pitseolak Sr. Hudson Bay Man Trading a Rifle with Inuk for a Carving (2011) Stone and antler REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION DORSET FINE ARTS COURTESY SPIRITWRESTLER GALLERY © THE ARTIST
Works like Hudson’s Bay Store (2006-7) by Qavavau Manumie and Hudson Bay Man Trading a Rifle with Inuk for a Carving (2011) by Mark Pitseolak Sr. portray the buying of art by the Bay Manager inside an HBC post. Instead of trading fox pelts, the artist is there to trade art, a visual signifier of the role of the HBC in Inuit art making. 

The depiction of HBC blankets in Inuit art is another interesting facet of the HBC’s influence on Inuit life. Janet Nungnik portrays the HBC blanket in several of her wallhangings, including in Airing Hudson Bay Blanket (2001), where she depicts a blanket on a clothesline outside of a tent. At first sight, this seems to allude to the presence of the blanket in Inuit lives prior to settlement life. However, one has to question whether this wallhanging actually depicts the blanket in a more contemporary setting, bridging the past into the present through the nostalgic memories that the blanket often elicits among its viewers.

Janet Nungnik Airing Hudson Bay Blanket (2001) Wool felt and embroidery floss on wool duffle 44.5 x 71.8 cm COURTESY MARION SCOTT GALLERY © THE ARTIST

Contemporary Indigenous artists have used the HBC blanket to criticize the entanglement of Indigenous histories and the HBC, showcasing Inuit resilience and agency through active reclamation over Inuit stories through art. Anishinaabe/settler artist and curator Jaimie Isaac says:

To bring that material into contemporary narratives around our own histories…is another form of trade…By trading that information that we know, and that people have researched, and to bring that into a larger Canadian dialogue to kind of dismantle what we know about our histories … is a really interesting way of using the blanket in art. (Cram, 2020). [6]

Maureen Gruben This is Not a Hudson Bay Blanket (2015) Moosehide blanket on aluminum plinth, 35.6 x 35.6 x 17.8 cm © THE ARTIST

Maureen Gruben’s This is not a Hudson Bay Blanket (2015), speaks to the historic biological warfare that is believed to have been used through the wool blankets. This moosehide blanket made by Gruben activates Inuit sovereignty over our art and our stories by referring to the HBC blanket and instead creating something that is distinctly Indigenous. In a 2019 Inuit Art Quarterly article, Gruben emphasizes the sensory aspect of the work to evoke memories and nostalgia: “The smell of moose hide brings you home, to the land, as opposed to a blanket which spreads disease. I wanted this blanket to carry healing.” [7]

Bridging past practices with contemporary tastes, Inuk artist Taqralik Partridge explores Inuit aesthetics, noting a common understanding among Inuit seamstresses and beaders that previous generations favored specific color palettes. These palettes often mirrored the HBC signature colors used on the blankets: red, navy, gold and forest green. [8] Based on conversation with artists and community members, these preferred colors are thought to originate from trade interactions between Inuit and whalers and the HBC traders, linking shared histories of Inuit and settlers regarding beads and beadwork.

Eva Talooki Aliktiluk Woman with Plaited Hair in Beaded Amauti (1986) Felt, thread, beads, skin, fur, yarn, stone and fabric 22.9 x 17.8 x 7.6 cm COURTESY WADDINGTON’S AUCTIONEERS AND APPRAISERS, TORONTO © THE ARTIST
As Inuk Elder and beader Lizzie Ittinuar explains, before beads were readily available through the HBC, similar designs were created using caribou skins. [9] With the introduction of beads, the same designs that were created through the use of different colours of the caribou skins were simply translated into beadwork on clothing, dolls and other objects. Distinct regional styles of beadwork exist in Kangirłiniq, Baker Lake, Igluligaarjuk and Arviat, yet all draw upon the overarching style of the Kivalliq region, passed down through generations. Although Inuit beadwork may not necessarily depict HBC symbolism explicitly, the HBC’s influence on Inuit art through the availability of supplies such as beads can be understood through this lens.

Itee Pootoogook HBC House (2007) Coloured pencil 48.3 × 70 cm REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION DORSET FINE ARTS COURTESY SPIRIT WRESTLER GALLERY © THE ARTIST
Stories of the HBC in Inuit art often depict the company’s presence, from portrayals of its physical buildings, like Itee Pootoogook’s (1951–2014) HBC House (2007), to the many aforementioned scenes of Inuit trading at the posts. These depictions often evoke memories for older generations, like Nuvak’s recollection of the HBC barge unloading in Igluligaarjuk, and can inspire nostalgia, as noted by Partridge.