A Toronto lawyer hopes to find a way to preserve war monuments in two Hudson’s Bay stores.
E. Patrick Shea, who is also in the Senate of the 48 Highlanders of Canada and is secretary of the RCAF Foundation, said he wants the exhibitions to commemorate the workers of Bay and Simpsons who died in World War II to be saved.
The exhibition at the Hudson’s Bay store in the center of Toronto consists of a list of personnel in Simpsons, a missing department store that the bay bought in 1978, which made the “supreme sacrifice.” The hidden arrangement near an elevator bank is flanked by two Canadian flags and a crown of poppies with a purple banner that reads, “so that we do not forget it.”
And in the location of Central Calgary, closing before June 15, there is a bronze plaque with the names of dozens of Hudson’s Bay employees who died in the war.
“Most people only see names on a wall, but behind each of those names there is a story,” said Shea.
Most of the almost 100 people listed between the two memorials were 18 or 19 when they left their home for war, he said. They never returned and now most of the people who knew them have also left.
“Some of them may have had children, but even their children would be in their 80 years now,” said Shea.
“The last type of vestige of their memory is these plates and deserve to be in the public eye.”
Company auctioning artifacts
Shea feels that her lawyer for the memorials will help to ensure that they do not become a last moment idea, since Hudson’s Bay closes all but six stores in June, sells their assets and seeks that companies assume their leases. The Toronto center store is not scheduled for closure.
The company will return to the Court on Thursday to request permission to manage an auction for some 1,700 pieces of art and more than 2,700 artifacts.
When asked about the memorial plans, Hudson Bay spokeswoman Tiffany Bourre said in an email that the company is “deeply aware” of the cultural importance of its artifacts and is working with advisors to ensure that they will be auctioned in a way that “properly balances the interests and concerns of all interested parties.”
With Hudson’s Bay liquidating all but six of its stores in Canada, articles with their iconic HBC stripes are flying from the shelves. Emma Weller spoke with a Gatineau woman who has been collecting them for years.
Riocan Real Estate Investment Trust, which supervises Calgary’s property through a joint company with the bay, did not respond to a request for comments.
The Board of the Pension Plan of the Ontario teachers, whose subsidiary Ontrea Inc. appears in judicial documents as owner of the property of the center of Toronto, did not respond to a request for comments.
Thrust to keep the memorials in the community
However, his other real estate subsidiary Cadillac Fairview, replied and sent the Canadian press to Hudson Bay.
“If any artifact enters possession of Cadillac Fairview, we support its preservation,” said company spokeswoman Anna NG, in an email.
Shea, whose mother worked for Hudson’s bay for 40 years, wants to see that commemorative monuments remain in the community where they are already located.
Imagine the Simpson tower in 401 Bay St., a property of Cadillac Fairview where Hudson’s Bay has its central office, would be an ideal site for the memorial toronto.
Military museums in Calgary could be a good option for the Alberta Memorial, said Shea.
The curator Alison Mercer agreed in an email that could be suitable for the museum collection.
If Shea is successful, the memorials would not be the first to have rescued. He previously kept one in a dismantling mill in Thorold, Ontario, for the employees of the Ontario paper company lost in World War I.
