If I stand on tiptoes this week I can see August. That makes me happy because I’ve never been a fan of July. Too much heat. Too many people.
August is a much better month, with thinning summer crowds and the first hints of cool fall air. And, of course, the further August progresses, the cooler the temperatures become.
My Northwestern Ontario blood likes coolness, which gets me thinking about pulling out the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) point blanket. That blanket on my bed is a sign that the hot, muggy nights of summer are being pushed aside by temperatures more to my liking.
This year, however, I’ll pull out the HBC blanket with some discomfort. These blankets are a significant part of history, and history and the objects that it reflects, are under attack.
Monuments, statues and other memorials are being torn down or defaced in many parts of the world. It all seems to have started with the U.S. Confederacy and slavery, but has spread to other historical issues and historically prominent persons.
The HBC blanket could be easily identified as an item with some history that no one should glorify.
The Hudson’s Bay Company introduced the wool point blanket with its coloured stripes and points (black markers) in 1779. It got the idea for the blanket from French weavers who developed a point system as a way to specify a blanket’s finished size.
The points were simple black lines on a corner of the blanket. One black line or point indicated a small blanket; five indicated a large one.
Blankets became a currency during the fur trade, with merchants pricing them according to their number of points.
Point blankets were taken in trade by Indigenous people for furs. They became valuable household items used as sleeping covers, robes and for gift giving. But for some Indigenous people the HBC point blanket represents colonialization and the dispossession of their land and culture.
Blankets became a currency during the fur trade, with merchants pricing them according to their number of points.
Point blankets were taken in trade by Indigenous people for furs. They became valuable household items used as sleeping covers, robes and for gift giving. But for some Indigenous people the HBC point blanket represents colonialization and the dispossession of their land and culture.
The British infected trade blankets with smallpox as a chemical warfare means to eradicate Indigenous populations. Jeffery Amherst, commander of British forces in North America, suggested this during the 1763 Pontiac Uprising in Pennsylvania.
“You will Do well to try to Innoculate [sic] the Indians by means of Blankets, as well as to try Every other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable Race,” Amherst wrote in a letter to a subordinate.
Amherst is considered the architect of the British campaign to take what is now Canada from the French.
His name is honoured in Canadian streets and towns – Amherst, Nova Scotia, Amherstburg, Ontario – but those namings are being reconsidered. The city of Montreal last year renamed Amherst Street Rue Atatekan, a Mohawk word denoting equality among people.
Amherst is considered the architect of the British campaign to take what is now Canada from the French.
His name is honoured in Canadian streets and towns – Amherst, Nova Scotia, Amherstburg, Ontario – but those namings are being reconsidered. The city of Montreal last year renamed Amherst Street Rue Atatekan, a Mohawk word denoting equality among people.
Although Amherst was prominent in military campaigns in Canada, there is no evidence of infecting blankets, or of even suggesting the idea, in Canada. Some writers have said there was but that is pure speculation based on what happened in Pennsylvania.
Such a monstrous action certainly would not have benefitted the Hudson’s Bay Company. Killing customers is not smart business.
Wanting to topple historic monuments and cancel tributes given to some prominent historic figures is understandable, especially when you consider cruel racists like Amherst.
Wanting to topple historic monuments and cancel tributes given to some prominent historic figures is understandable, especially when you consider cruel racists like Amherst.
However, despite knowing the history of trade blankets, I plan to keep and cherish my HBC point blanket. To me it is an important reminder of past wrongs and the racism that continues today against Indigenous peoples.
It is a reminder that the times and the people were different back then, and many thought and acted in ways that most of us now find repulsive.
I wrote “most of us” because it is evident that despite the passage of time allowing us to create a more diverse and better educated society, intolerance and racism remain a problem.
The Bolsonaro administration in Brazil and the U.S. Trump administration both are attacking Indigenous lands and rights in favour of special interests. Here’s one Bolsonaro quote from the past:
It is a reminder that the times and the people were different back then, and many thought and acted in ways that most of us now find repulsive.
I wrote “most of us” because it is evident that despite the passage of time allowing us to create a more diverse and better educated society, intolerance and racism remain a problem.
The Bolsonaro administration in Brazil and the U.S. Trump administration both are attacking Indigenous lands and rights in favour of special interests. Here’s one Bolsonaro quote from the past:
“It’s a shame that the Brazilian cavalry hasn’t been as efficient as the Americans, who exterminated the Indians.”
Closer to home we have Prime Minister Trudeau and RCMP Commissioners Brenda Lucki both admitting systemic racism exists in the national police force.
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