The Breakup

Charles Bayly, the first Hudson’s Bay Company overseas governor, founded what was originally called Moose Fort in 1673. The second North American trading post set up by the HBC, after Fort Rupert in northern Quebec, and later renamed Moose Factory, it is the oldest English settlement in what became Ontario. Several historical buildings are still standing, including a powder magazine, an HBC staff house, and a restored blacksmith’s shop from 1740, which the Canadian Encyclopedia speculates is the oldest wooden building in the province.

Jean Pierre Chabot is fascinated by Moose Factory’s link to early Canadian history. The author and policy analyst spent part of his childhood in this community of 2,500, on the southern third of Moose Factory Island, not far from James Bay, and returned there to work as an adult. With 1894: The Deeper Story of Moose Factory’s Great Flood, he delves into a tragic event that remains “relevant for understanding concerns...