This is a story about the fur trade and First Nations, and the development of northern Canada, seen and experienced not only through Leonard Flett’s eyes, but also through the eyes of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.

The lives of Indigenous people in remote areas of northern Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan in the 1960s and 1970s are examined in detail. Flett’s successful career with both the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company provides an insight into the dying days of the fur trade and the rise of a new retail business tailored to First Nations.

The author

Leonard Flett was a Cree status member of the Big Trout Lake Ontario First Nation. Originally from Cumberland House, Saskatchewan and Shamattawa, Manitoba, he had an extensive 42-year background with the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company, retiring as vice-president in 2005. He was recognized by the Aboriginal community with the bestowal of a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 2002, by the province of Manitoba with the Order of Manitoba in 2012, and by Canada with the induction into the Order of Canada in 2004. He was also a recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal.