A Piece of Canadian History Might Disappear with Hudson’s Bay

Monday, May 19, 2025

This week from The Walrus:

A 355‐Year‐Old Document That Helped Create Canada May Be Sold Off in Bankruptcy

As Hudson’s Bay Company liquidates, its founding charter is up for grabs

BY CARMINE STARNINO

While the Royal Charter may no longer have the power it had when it was signed in the seventeenth century, it is one of the building blocks that brought us our country. And right now, as we talk about Canadian identity, it’s important for people to be able to connect to such documents. In my experience, it’s one thing for people to look at a picture or a digital version—it’s quite another to see the real thing. I think it’s even more important for the First Nations, Inuit, and Metis nations to have access to the charter. It had a huge impact on them.

Read or listen to the story

A photo illustration shows a handshake with currency notes pressed between them.

Canada Hands Out Billions to Corporations. What Are We Getting Back?

Business subsidies now outpace child benefits

BY LAURENT CARBONNEAU

A photo illustration of a hand holding a pen and writing out lines in red that read I love Canada.

The Limits of True Patriot Love

It’s too easy to fall in line, wave the flag, and forget about the country’s problems

BY SARMISHTA SUBRAMANIAN

A black line across a library floor. In the foreground on a wooden shelf are small American and Canadian flags. Library patrons are seen in the background.

The Line between Canada and the US Cuts through the Haskell Free Library

I grew up among its books. Now Trump has turned the cross-border landmark into a political battleground

BY JORDAN HEATH-RAWLINGS

A Canadian Coast Guard official looks out from an icebreaker as it traverses the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

China Stakes Claim in the North, Redefines Arctic Politics

A new cold war is taking shape at the top of the world

BY KIERAN MULVANEY

Today's Quiz Question

The line between Canada and the US literally cuts through the Haskell Free Library, a symbol of unity and a space both Canadians and Americans could use without border clearance, at least until recently. What solution did the library put in place to continue to serve its Canadian patrons?

Yes, I know the answer

What Would It Take to Rebuild Syria?

After fourteen years away, I returned to a home I barely recognized

BY SAMIA MADWAR

Two photos against a black background. One is of a woman with red wavy hair facing left, the other is a woman with silvery wavy hair also facing left.

The Ballad of Neko and Niko

When I came out as trans, I struggled to land on a name. I returned to one I had heard on the radio and written on my arm

BY NIKO STRATIS

Mavis Gallant Left a Journalism Career to Tell True Stories

Through her fiction, she turned fact into art

BY DAFNA IZENBERG

A black-and-white portrait of Pierre Nepveu with a blue background.

Leaving

the driver is waiting for me to come out, / for me to open the door and sit

BY PIERRE NEPVEU

Canada’s energy future is electric.

The Walrus Talks Power Economy, presented by Concordia University and Volt‐Age, brings together leading voices to examine how electrification will transform industries, homes, and infrastructure.

Join us on May 29 to connect in person by joining us in Toronto for an engaging evening of ideas. The post‐event reception is a great chance to meet our speakers and community over good food and drinks.

Join us

Why Do We Travel? For the Challenge

In the latest instalment of Y We Travel, Guy Nicholson argues that meaningful travel isn’t about escape, but about transformation—the kind that comes from stepping beyond comfort and into challenge.

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This week on What Happened Next, host Nathan Whitlock is joined by politician, musician, and author Charlie Angus. His most recent book is Dangerous Memory: Coming of Age in the Decade of Greed, published by House of Anansi in 2024. Charlie and Nathan talk about the new pope and the future of the federal NDP, about how writing became a necessary activity during his time in Parliament, and about his work in progress, which examines our dystopic political present through the lens of the 1930s.

Listen now

THE WALRUS THANKS ALL OUR ADVERTISERS. BECOME ONE.

Canada has recently faced many political questions: How do we address ongoing tensions with the US? What is our place in the world? Is it time for a change in the Parliament?

There has been much debate on how we should respond to those questions, but many other critical issues remain: economic concerns, climate emergencies, limitations in the housing market, and an increasingly strained health care system. On all these fronts, our reporting and analysis are there for you, carefully researched as ever and paywall‐free.

If you’ve enjoyed these articles, please consider making a donation today. Your donation will help us continue to provide everyone with paywall‐free, fact‐based reporting on matters that demand Canada’s attention.

Thank you for your support.

Harley Rustad
Senior Editor, The Walrus

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