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Women Workers<br />
The fur trade wouldn’t have existed without nonstop<br />
work by Aboriginal women. They repaired<br />
canoes, made snowshoes, moccasins and all<br />
kinds of clothes. And they made the all-important<br />
pemmican — dried bison meat pounded into a<br />
powder and mixed with melted fat and sometimes<br />
berries. Pemmican was high in calories for hard<br />
days of paddling, it was easy to carry and slow to spoil.<br />
European traders and voyageurs often married Aboriginal<br />
women, known as “country wives.” While some marriages survived (the<br />
children were the first Métis), many men simply left these women and children<br />
behind when they returned to Europe, and married again.<br />
Coureurs de bois usually worked on their own. They<br />
were experts at travelling the wilderness, whether on<br />
water or land, and also traded for furs. Voyageurs<br />
usually worked for a company, and mostly just paddled<br />
others, who did the actual trading.<br />
“Henceforth all Gentlemen’s hats shall be<br />
fashioned of beaverskins.” –King Charles II, 1670<br />
1825 1653<br />
1831 1653<br />
1870 1653<br />
1881 1653<br />
Library and Archives Canada, HBC Archives<br />
HBC sets up<br />
its first post on<br />
the west coast,<br />
Fort Vancouver<br />
in what is now<br />
Washington state<br />
HBC<br />
establishes<br />
Lower Fort<br />
Garry, just<br />
north of<br />
Winnipeg<br />
Rupert’s Land<br />
becomes part<br />
of Canada when<br />
HBC signs<br />
the Deed of<br />
Surrender<br />
HBC opens<br />
its first<br />
department<br />
store in<br />
Winnipeg<br />
Kayak #54 december 2015<br />
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