The Hudson’s Bay Company first established The Beaver as a staff publication in the 1920s. By the 1930s, it had become a fully fledged magazine that served Canada’s broader public. In 1994, Canada’s National Historical Society acquired the magazine from HBC. Finally, in 2010, the magazine name officially changed to Canada’s History and the Beaver’s reign came to an end. 

This Cove edition examines the early issues of the Beaver and investigates the colonial history of the Hudson’s Bay Company and its legacy in the history of Canada. As a Fur Trading Company, the HBC had a huge influence over interactions between settlers and Indigenous peoples. In the 1920s, Indigenous peoples were still disenfranchised by the colonial government, being forced into residential schools and facing widespread assimilation. As such, the Beaver is a first hand account of settler attitudes towards Indigenous peoples.