A Toronto lawyer is hoping to discover a method to protect struggle memorials at two Hudson’s Bay shops.
E. Patrick Shea, who additionally sits on the senate of the forty eighth Highlanders of Canada and is the RCAF Basis’s secretary, stated he desires the shows commemorating Bay and Simpsons staff who died within the Second World Struggle to be saved.
The show on the Hudson’s Bay retailer in downtown Toronto consists of a listing of employees at Simpsons, a defunct division retailer the Bay purchased in 1978, that made the “supreme sacrifice.” The association tucked away close to a financial institution of elevators is flanked by two Canadian flags and a wreath of poppies with a purple banner studying, “lest we overlook.”
And on the downtown Calgary location closing by June 15 is a bronze plaque bearing the names of dozens of Hudson’s Bay workers who died within the struggle.
“Most individuals simply see names on a wall, however behind each a type of names is a narrative,” Shea stated.
A lot of the virtually 100 people listed between the 2 memorials have been 18 or 19 years outdated after they left residence for the struggle, he stated. They by no means returned and now most people who knew them are gone as effectively.
“A few of them could have had youngsters, however even their youngsters could be effectively into their 80s now,” Shea stated.
“The final type of vestige of their reminiscence are these plaques and so they should be within the public eye.”
Shea feels his advocating for the memorials will assist guarantee they don’t change into an afterthought as Hudson’s Bay closes all however six shops by June, sells off its belongings and appears for companies to imagine its leases. The downtown Toronto retailer isn’t slated for closure.
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The corporate will return to court docket Thursday to hunt permission to run an public sale for some 1,700 items of artwork and greater than 2,700 artifacts.
Requested about plans for the memorials, Hudson’s Bay spokesperson Tiffany Bourré stated in an electronic mail that the corporate is “deeply conscious” of the cultural significance of its artifacts and is working with advisers to make sure they are going to be auctioned off in a manner that “appropriately balances the pursuits and issues of all stakeholders.”
RioCan Actual Property Funding Belief, which oversees the Calgary property by way of a three way partnership with the Bay, didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The Ontario Academics’ Pension Plan Board, whose subsidiary Ontrea Inc. is listed in court docket paperwork as the owner for the downtown Toronto property, didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Its different actual property subsidiary Cadillac Fairview, nevertheless, replied and referred The Canadian Press to Hudson’s Bay.
“If any artifacts come into Cadillac Fairview’s possession, we assist their preservation,” firm spokesperson Anna Ng stated in an electronic mail.
Shea, whose mom labored for Hudson’s Bay for 40 years, desires to see the memorials keep in the neighborhood the place they’re already situated.
He imagines the Simpsons tower at 401 Bay Avenue, a Cadillac Fairview property the place Hudson’s Bay has its head workplace, could be a really perfect website for the Toronto memorial.
The Navy Museums in Calgary might be match for the Alberta memorial, Shea stated.
Curator Alison Mercer agreed in an electronic mail that it might be appropriate for the museum assortment.
If Shea is profitable, the memorials wouldn’t be the primary he has rescued. He beforehand saved one at a decommissioned mill in Thorold, Ont., for Ontario Paper Firm workers misplaced within the First World Struggle.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
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