Hudson’s Bay facing more pressure to keep Indigenous items off auction block

The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples is joining Indigenous organizations in calling for Hudson’s Bay to keep artifacts and sacred items off the auction block.

The group said Friday that any effort from the faltering department store chain to resolve its financial situation through creditor protection must not come at “the expense of Indigenous heritage and dignity.”

“The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples believes that any effort to liquidate or commodify Indigenous cultural property without the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous communities is a violation of both Indigenous rights and ethical responsibility,” said the group’s national chief Brendan Moore.

“We join the call for immediate transparency, dialogue, and a respectful process of repatriation.”

Moore’s push for an immediate halt to the sale of any Indigenous items echo prior urgings from the Assembly of First Nations, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak.

Hudson’s Bay, which marked its 355th birthday Friday and holds the title of Canada’s oldest company, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the calls from the Indigenous community.

It has not specified whether any Indigenous items are part of the 4,400 art pieces and artifacts it plans to auction off in a process run by Heffel Gallery.

The only item Hudson’s Bay has said is part of the trove is the 1670 charter that birthed the company and handed it extraordinary control over Canada’s land, Indigenous relations and economy.

A source familiar with its collection, who was not authorized to speak publicly, previously told The Canadian Press that paintings, point blankets, holiday catalogues, Bay Day marketing materials and even collectible Barbie dolls are part of the items expected to hit the auction block.

The company must return to court eventually to describe in detail what it wants to auction and how that process will work, but an engagement letter from Heffel filed in court appears to show the firms are contemplating running both live and online auctions.

Hudson’s Bay has already promised Superior Court judge Peter Osborne that it will find an “appropriate path forward” through consultation with the federal government and Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, which both appeared in court to seek more information about the artifacts and their possible sale.

Osborne released a paper Friday detailing why he decided last week to allow Hudson’s Bay to remove its 1,700 pieces of art and more than 2,700 artifacts from a separate sales process it was running to find buyers for its entire business or assets like its intellectual property.

Osborne said separating the art and artifacts from the other assets for sale “will provide the most transparent, fair and efficient approach” but will also protect the collection’s “potential cultural and historical significance” and ensure the company’s compliance with relevant laws.

“In approving the engagement of Heffel today, the court is not approving any specific procedures for the auction or other disposition of the art collection. Nor is the court determining whether any specific artifact is included within the art collection and whether it will be sold at auction,” he wrote. “That is for another day.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2025.