May 25, 2023 – Calgary, Alberta
I went to buy a pair of socks today and was given a civics demonstration in the process.
When I buy things, I like to shop at a store I can depend on. Hudson’s Bay Company has been around since 1670, so they are my first choice when I need retail goods.
HBC was a fur trading company for the first three hundred years of its existence, but its scope of business extended far beyond furs. HBC was a governing body for a big slice of North America for two centuries. During that time, it served as a bank, a post office, a police agency, and a hospital.
HBC operated a network of trading posts across the continent, providing goods and services to Canadians in remote corners of the country, utilizing a complex system of waterways.
As Canada grew and modernized, HBC evolved with the times. Fur trading waned, so HBC adapted to become an urban retailer. Today, HBC owns or controls 40 million square feet of retail space, with 30,000 employees, (which sounds like a lot, but HBC once owned 3 million square miles of territory, which it managed with just 1500 contract employees.)
Hudson’s Bay Company store, Vancouver, BC – 1888
Hudson’s Bay Company has always been an entity Canadians can depend on and be proud of, which is why I am struggling today.
While I was shopping for clothing at HBC this morning, I came across several displays with male mannequins in intimate poses.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for every Canadian. 4 – 5% of us are born LGBTQ (or one of the other alphabet of identifiers used) and that is something we all need to accept, support, and get along with.
Where I get confused is, why does it seem that 4% of the population is currently breathing 80% of the oxygen? LGBTQ aren’t the only ones, there are countless other groups in Canada getting an extraordinary allotment of public airtime, public funding, and social favouritism.
Equality is living and working together without fighting or debating our diversity ad nauseam.
I am certain that 4% of the men in the York Boat above, and at least one of the seven dudes in front of the Vancouver HBC store was a member of some minority or another. The difference is, they were all rowing the same boat or managing the store together, without expectation of extraordinary benefits.
Overheated, force-fed social justice reforms are challenging the equality of Canadians.
HBC Calgary store – 1881
I don’t know where my beloved HBC is headed. They have faced far greater challenges than the current spate of aggravated corporate wokeism and I am certain they will weather this storm too.
For my money, Hudson’s Bay Company would do well to stop peddling social justice reform and get back to …
… selling socks.
Gg
🙂
GG
Climbs down off soapbox, buys socks, goes for coffee and enjoys the day. Everyone needs some airtime, and us old geezers have used up an awful lot of oxygen in our lifetimes.
Russ
The coffee/walk banter will be lively next session…