Editing Hudson's Bay Company (section)

== 20th century history ==
The [[World War I|First World War]] interrupted a major remodelling and restoration of retail trade shops planned in 1912. Following the war, the company revitalized its fur trade and real estate activities, and diversified its operations by venturing into the oil business.<ref name="HBC Heritage" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: People: Builders: Burbidge |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/builders/burbidge |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926115645/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/people/builders/burbidge |archive-date=26 September 2015 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref> During the [[Russian Civil War]], the company briefly operated in the [[Russian Far East|Siberian far east]], even obtaining an agreement with the [[Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet government]] until departing in 1924.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Declerq |first=Robrecht |date=January 2019 |title=Far Eastern Promises: The Failed Expedition of the Hudson's Bay Company in Kamchatka and Eastern Siberia (1919–1915) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334077224 |journal=Quaestio Rossica |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=571–586 |doi=10.15826/qr.2019.2.394 |via=ResearchGate|hdl=10995/74663 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The company co-founded [[Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas Company]] (HBOG) in 1926 with [[Marland Oil Company]] (which merged with [[Conoco]] in 1929). Although the company diversified into a number of areas, its department store business is the only remaining part of the company's operations, in the form of department stores under the Hudson's Bay brand.<ref name="Funding Universe">{{Cite web |title=Hudson's Bay Company History |url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/hudson-s-bay-company-history/ |access-date=2 September 2012 |website=Funding Universe}}</ref> The company also established new trading posts in the Canadian Arctic.

=== Indigenous health ===
The medical scientist [[Frederick Banting]] was travelling in the Arctic in 1927 when he realized that crew or passengers on board the HBC paddle wheeler [[Distributor (HBC vessel)|''Distributor'']] were responsible for spreading the influenza virus down the [[Slave River]] and [[Mackenzie River]]. Less than a decade after [[Spanish flu|the 1918 global flu pandemic]], a similar virus spread territory-wide over the summer and autumn, devastating the Indigenous population of the north.<ref name="Jackson-1965">{{Cite journal |last=Jackson |first=Alexander Young |date=15 May 1965 |title=Men and books: Memories of a fellow artist, Frederick Grant Banting |url=https://insulin.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/insulin%3AT10193 |journal=Canadian Medical Association Journal |volume=92 |pages=1077–1084 |via=University of Toronto Libraries}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=1925–1949, Historical Timeline of the Northwest Territories |url=https://www.nwttimeline.ca/1925/1928JacksonBanting.htm |access-date=13 March 2019 |website=Historical Timeline of the Northwest Territories |archive-date=5 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205154729/http://nwttimeline.ca/1925/1928JacksonBanting.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> Returning from the trip, Banting gave an interview in Montreal with a ''[[Toronto Star]]'' reporter under the agreement that his statements on HBC would remain off the record.<ref name="Jackson-1965" /> The newspaper nonetheless published the conversation, which rapidly reached a wide audience across Europe and Australia.<ref name="Jackson-1965" /><ref name="Tester-2008">{{Cite journal |last1=Tester |first1=Frank James |last2=McNicoll |first2=Paule |date=Nov 2008 |title=A Voice of Presence: Inuit Contributions toward the Public Provision of Health Care in Canada, 1900–1930 |journal=Social History/Histoire Sociale |volume=41 |issue=82 |pages=535–561 |doi=10.1353/his.0.0034 |s2cid=144773818}}</ref> Banting was angry at the leak, having promised the Department of the Interior not to make any statements to the press prior to clearing them.<ref name="Tester-2008" />

The article noted that Banting had given the journalist C. R. Greenaway repeated instances of how the fox fur trade always favoured the company: "For over $100,000 of fox skins, he estimated that the Eskimos had not received $5,000 worth of goods."<ref name="Tester-2008" /> He traced this treatment to health, consistent with reports made in previous years by RCMP officers, suggesting that "the result was a diet of 'flour, [[hard tack|sea-biscuits]], tea and tobacco,' with the skins that once were used for clothing traded merely for 'cheap whiteman's goods.{{'"}}<ref name="Tester-2008" />

The HBC fur trade commissioner called Banting's remarks "false and slanderous", and a month later, the governor and general manager met Banting at the [[The Omni King Edward Hotel|King Edward Hotel]] to demand a retraction.<ref name="Jackson-1965" /><ref name="Tester-2008" /> Banting stated that the reporter had betrayed his confidence, but did not retract his statement and reaffirmed that HBC was responsible for the death of Indigenous residents by supplying the wrong kind of food and introducing diseases into the Arctic.<ref name="Jackson-1965" /> As [[A. Y. Jackson]], the [[Group of Seven (artists)|Group of Seven]] painter with whom Banting was travelling, noted in his memoir that since neither the governor nor the general manager had been to the Arctic, the meeting ended with them asking Banting's advice on what HBC ought to do: "He gave them some good advice and later he received a card at Christmas with the Governor's best wishes."<ref name="Jackson-1965" />

Banting maintained this position in his report to the Department of the Interior:<ref name="Tester-2008" /><blockquote>He noted that "infant mortality was high because of the undernourishment of the mother before birth"; that "white man's food leads to decay of native teeth"; that "tuberculosis has commenced. Saw several cases at Godhavn, Etah, Port Burwell, Arctic Bay"; that "an epidemic resembling influenza killed a considerable proportion of population at Port Burwell"; and that "the gravest danger faces the Eskimo in his transfer from a race-long hunter to a dependent trapper. White flour, sea-biscuits, tea and tobacco do not provide sufficient fuel to warm and nourish him". Furthermore, he discouraged the establishment of an Arctic hospital. The "proposed hospital at Pangnirtung would be a waste of money, as it could be reached by only a few natives". Banting's report contrasted starkly with the bland descriptions provided by the ship's physician, F. H. Stringer.</blockquote>

=== Latter 20th century ===
[[File:Edificio Henry Morgan, Montreal, Canadá, 2017-08-11, DD 43.jpg|thumb|[[Hudson's Bay Montreal Downtown]]. Originally the flagship store for [[Morgan's]], the department store chain was acquired by HBC in 1960.]]

In 1960, the company acquired [[Morgan's]] allowing it to expand into Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa. In 1965, HBC rebranded its department stores as The Bay.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Infantry |first=Ashante |date=2013-03-06 |title=The Hudson's Bay Company unveils new logo for Canada's oldest department store |url=https://www.thestar.com/business/2013/03/06/the_hudsons_bay_company_unveils_new_logo_for_canadas_oldest_department_store.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-03-14 |work=[[The Toronto Star]] |language=en-CA |issn=0319-0781}}</ref> The Morgan's logo was changed to match the new visual identity. By 1972, the Morgan's stores in Montreal had been rebranded to The Bay.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: Acquisitions: Retail: Morgan's |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/acquisitions/retail/morgans |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006202035/http://hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/acquisitions/retail/morgans |archive-date=6 October 2015 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref> HBOG also expanded during the 1960s, as it began shipping Canadian crude through a new link to the Glacier pipeline and on to the refinery in [[Billings, Montana]]. The company became the sixth-largest Canadian oil producer in 1967.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History |url=http://www.conocophillips.ca/who-we-are/our-history/Pages/1900s.aspx |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=ConocoPhilips Canada}}</ref>

In 1970, on the company's 300th anniversary, as a result of punishing new British tax laws, the company relocated to Canada, and was rechartered as a Canadian business corporation under Canadian law,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: Timelines: HBC: 1970 |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/timeline/hbc/ |website=HBC Heritage |access-date=19 April 2013 |archive-date=23 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121123055342/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/timeline/hbc/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Head Office functions were transferred from London to Winnipeg. By 1974, as the company expanded into eastern Canada, head office functions were moved to Toronto.

In 1972, the company acquired the four-store [[Shop-Rite (Canada)|Shop-Rite]] chain of [[catalog merchant|catalogue stores]]. The chain was quickly expanded to 65 stores in Ontario, but closed in 1982 due to declining sales.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Sweetman |first1=Keri |last2=Harrington |first2=Denise |date=18 November 1981 |title=600 to lose jobs as Bay closes Shop-Rite stores |work=Ottawa Citizen |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19811118&id=2a4yAAAAIBAJ&pg=1164,5107737 |access-date=6 October 2015}}</ref> In these stores, little merchandise was displayed; customers made their selections from catalogues, and staff would retrieve the merchandise from storerooms. The HBC also acquired [[Freimans]] department stores in Ottawa and converted them to The Bay.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History: Timelines: Acquisitions |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/timeline/acquisitions/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927122300/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/timeline/acquisitions/ |archive-date=27 September 2015 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=HBC Heritage}}</ref>

In 1973, HBOG acquired a 35 per cent stake in Siebens Oil and Gas, and, in 1979, it divested that interest. In 1980, it bought a controlling interest in Roxy Petroleum.

[[File:Hudson's Bay Queen Street 2021.jpg|thumb|[[The Bay Queen Street]] in Toronto. It was formerly the flagship store for [[Simpsons (department store)|Simpson's]] before HBC converted it to Hudson's Bay in 1991.]]
In 1978, the [[Zellers]] discount store chain made a bid to acquire the HBC, but the HBC turned the tables and acquired Zellers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=HBC Heritage – Zellers |url=https://www.hbcheritage.ca/history/acquisitions/zellers |access-date=27 July 2020 |archive-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727155532/https://www.hbcheritage.ca/history/acquisitions/zellers |url-status=dead }}</ref> That same year, the HBC also acquired [[Simpsons (department store)|Simpson's department stores]], and were converted to Bay stores in 1991.<ref>{{Cite web |title=HBC Heritage – The Robert Simpson Company |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/history/acquisitions/robert-simpson-company |access-date=11 December 2018 |website=hbcheritage.ca |archive-date=17 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017225005/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/history/acquisitions/robert-simpson-company |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>The related chain Simpsons-Sears was not acquired by the Bay, but became [[Sears Canada]] in 1978.</ref>

In 1979, Canadian billionaire [[Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet|Kenneth Thomson]] won control of the company in a battle with [[George Weston Limited]], and acquired a 75 per cent stake for $400&nbsp;million.<ref name="CanEncycl_HBC">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Hudson's Bay Company |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada |url=https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/hudsons-bay-company |access-date=6 October 2015 |last=Ray |first=Arthur J. |date=2 April 2009}}</ref> Thomson sold the company's oil and gas business, financial services, distillery, and other interests for approximately $550&nbsp;million, transforming the company into a leaner, more focused operation.  In the 1980s, sales and oil prices slipped, while debt from acquisitions piled up which led to Hudson's Bay Company selling its 10.1 per cent stake in HBOG to [[Dome Petroleum]] in 1981.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Dome Petroleum Limited |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/dome-petroleum-limited |access-date=17 June 2010 |last=Sawyer |first=Deborah C. |date=2 February 2006 |edition=online |archive-date=7 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007004645/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/dome-petroleum-limited/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1997, the Thomson family sold the last of its remaining shares.<ref name="CanEncycl_HBC" />

Hudson's Bay Company reversed a formidable debt problem in 1987, by shedding non-strategic assets such as its wholesale division and getting completely out of the oil and gas business. HBC also sold its Canadian fur-auction business to Hudson's Bay Fur Sales Canada (now [[North American Fur Auctions]]). The Northern Stores Division was sold that same year to a group of investors and employees, which adopted [[The North West Company]] name three years later.<ref name="HBC.com HBC Heritage">{{Cite web |title=Hbc Heritage – Timeline |url=http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/timeline/hbc/home |website=hbcheritage.ca |access-date=19 April 2013 |archive-date=2 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130102011936/http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/history/timeline/hbc/home |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The HBC acquired [[Towers Department Stores]] in 1990, combining them with the Zellers chain, and [[Woodward's]] stores in 1993, converting them into Bay or Zellers stores. [[Kmart (United States)|Kmart Canada]] was acquired in 1998 and merged with Zellers.<ref name="HBC.com HBC Heritage" />

In 1991, the Bay agreed to stop retailing [[fur]] in response to complaints from people opposed to killing animals for this purpose.<ref name="cbc.ca">{{Cite web |title=1991: Hudson's Bay Company ends its fur trade – CBC Archives |url=http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/1991-hudsons-bay-company-ends-its-fur-trade |access-date=10 January 2018 |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation}}</ref> In 1997, the Bay reopened its fur salons to meet the demand of consumers.<ref name="cbc.ca" />