New display of giant canoe evokes history of Canada and Hudson's Bay Company
Hull, Quebec, November 19, 1997 - No other vehicle carries as much Canadian history as the birchbark canoe. Now, visitors to the Canadian Museum of Civilization will be greeted by a spectacular eleven-metre version of a Montreal cargo canoe, which has been mounted dramatically above the Box Office in the Museum's main lobby, thanks to a key partnership with Hudson's Bay Company.
Wednesday evening, David E. Mitchell, Hudson's Bay Company Governor, and William R. Fields, the Company's President and CEO, joined Dr. George F. MacDonald, President and CEO of the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, to unveil the new permanent exhibit before a surprised and delighted group of guests. Among them were members of the Board of Directors of Hudson's Bay Company, attending their quarterly meeting of the Board at the Museum.
"It is a pleasure for us to help make possible this splendid cultural heritage display depicting an exciting and essential part of Canada's history," said Mr. Fields. "The fur traders and voyageurs who took to the great canoes are the pioneers of industry and transportation in this country. Hudson's Bay Company is proud to celebrate that heritage — and especially pleased to work with the Canadian Museum of Civilization in encouraging Canadians' knowledge and appreciation of their history."
The Museum's Dr. MacDonald was enthusiastic in his comments: "It is immensely satisfying for the Canadian Museum of Civilization to team up with Hudson's Bay Company to underline, in such an impressive and appropriate way, the importance of the great Montreal canoe, the largest birchbark vessel ever used in Canada."
Commissioned by the Museum, the canoe was built in 1957 by Chief Matt Bernard of Golden Lake, Ontario. The Algonquin master canoe-builder followed traditional construction techniques, using no nails, metal or modern materials. The canoe is an artful example of Native workmanship and a unique tribute to the vehicle that expanded our nation's frontiers and defined the country.
Historians have often aptly described Canada as a canoe route. For example, E. Adney and H. Chapelle of the Smithsonian Institution wrote in 1983: "The great canoes of the Canadian fur trade must be looked upon as the national watercraft type...far more representative of national expansion than the wagon, truck, locomotive or steamship."
With some recent additions, the giant canoe is an historic interpretation of one of the legendary canot de maître or Montreal canoes that plied the tumultuous waters of the Ottawa and Saint Lawrence Rivers and the Great Lakes from Montreal to Thunder Bay, carrying up to 2,000 kg of freight and a crew of 16. The display portrays a voyage made in 1830 when Hudson's Bay Company Governor George Simpson and his English bride, Frances, travelled 2,000 km to settle in the West. The trip heralded the heyday of the fur trade era and helped open the door to western and industrial expansion in the country that would become Canada.
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