Fit for the Future Brief Oral Histories Pilot for the John Rae Society funded by the NLHF.

From Stromness beach the sun sits over Hoy.

Elder Archaeology, CIC recently embarked on a journey up to the Orkney Islands for the John Rae Society’s ‘Fit For the Future Brief Oral Histories Pilot’ funded by the NLHF. The project saw Dr Colin Elder and Jenny Addis travelling around the stunning Orkney mainland in search of peoples stories.

The project is aimed at exploring the rich history connecting the Orkney Islands to Northern Canada through the Hudson Bay Companies (HBC) fur trade. The HBC favoured Orcadian men for their hard working nature, durability and desire for adventure and financial betterment. By the 19th Century Orcadian men made up 80% of HBC employees. This project follows their stories across the atlantic and into the arctic.

The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) was founded in 1670, and played a central role in the development of Canada. The HBC found employee retention was not always easy and that their work force struggled in the arctic conditions while often failing to adapt to reliable indigenous ways of surviving in the harsh and unfamiliar conditions of Northern Canada. It was because of this and due to Stromness, a town on the Orkney mainland being a frequent stopping place for HBC ships before heading out into the Atlantic, that the HBC turned to the Orcadian people as a workforce. 

By the 18th century, the company’s fur trading operations in Canada were expanding rapidly, fueled by the demand for fashionable beaver pelt, for use primarily in hatting. The Orcadian men answered the call of the HBC, for durable hard-working folk to join their employ. This offered the men of Orkney an opportunity not only for adventure but also for financial betterment. On the islands there was little one could do to raise enough money to purchase land of the Lairds and thus to better one's station in society, but with the opportunities offered by the HBC and other such companies shipping out of Stromness, this all began to change. It also supplied the HBC with men who were used to hardship and to living in harsh environments, these folk were farmers and fishermen primarily and many came pre-trained with survival skills. They were talented hunters with a legacy of seafaring behind them and the drive to work hard and earn well.  

The work of the Orcadians in Canada was multifaceted. Many were employed as "voyageurs," or skilled paddlers who transported goods, primarily fur pelts, between trading posts in large canoes. Others worked as laborers, building and maintaining the forts and the infrastructure needed to support the HBC’s fur trading operations. Some even took on more specialized roles, such as hunters or trappers, and contributed to the procurement of furs for trade.

The HBC banned men from forming entanglements and marriages with the Indigenous women; it was however a rule that was often ignored. Many men married Indigenous women and started families with them, which worked in favour for the HBC as these men were more likely to stay on as employees while raising the next generations of HBC workers. Many of these men stayed on in Canada, raising families and living within local communities, our Oral Histories explored many of these people, their stories and legacies. 

In the long term, the legacy of the Orcadian workforce within the Hudson's Bay Company is one of significant cultural exchange. The interaction between the Orcadian workers, Indigenous communities, and other European settlers created a unique and diverse cultural blend that helped shape the development of modern day Canada. Many Orcadians who worked for the HBC went on to settle in Canada, particularly in Manitoba and the Canadian Prairies, where they integrated into local communities and contributed to the growth of the nation.

The Foden's present the Sturgeon Lake flag gifted to their Indigenous Canadian family members.

Dr Colin and Jenny attended public consultations, in school sessions and are in the process of producing short videos of the Oral Histories the project uncovered. They spoke to folk from both sides of the Atlantic about their familial connection to one another, from the Indigenous Meitei to Orcadian people. Orcadian families visited their long lost relatives on the Sturgeon Lake reservation in Northern Canada, organised a Pow Wow in Orkney for their relatives to attend across the Atlantic. They shared  their stories, legacies and a merging of two cultures, from fiddle music to Bannock. Colin and Jenny visited homes built with HBC money of Canadian pine by returning Orcadians. They learned of the schools and further infrastructure that HBC workers built with their earnings, for the betterment of their local Parishes. They heard stories of reparation and of ill treatment towards the Indigenous folk, of collaboration and exploitation. The historic connection between Orkney and Canada is rich and complex but in the modern day presents itself as a kinship between these two places. 

Follow us on social media and stay tuned for the release of our Oral History footage to hear these stories first hand from the Orcadian people.