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Economics and Industry (6)
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Voyageurs1978 1 minThis very short animation from the Canada Vignettes series illustrates the hardships of voyageurs' lives in the early Canadian fur trade. -
Fragments of Lost History2000 50 minThe yellowed pages of a travel journal, a letter unearthed by chance, photographs recovered from a company's dusty archives: These are but a few of the scattered materials used to reconstruct the fascinating and little known adventure of Revillon Brothers, a Parisian merchant of elegant furs, who came to Canada at the turn of the century to enter into the fur trade. But the adventure comes to an end in 1936 when Revillon's great rival, the Hudson's Bay Company, buys out the French company. Victorious, the Hudson's Bay Company, is the only of the two to be remembered in the history books. In between the words of the few remaining witnesses to a lost history, in the memories of descendants of employees and in specialists' passion for the fragments recovered, a world long thought vanished is recreated in front of our eyes. In French with English subtitles.
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Fur TradeLaurence Hyde 1946 11 minThis short film from 1946 presents an outline of the fur trade's history and the commercial use of fur in Canada. A thirst for fur by the kings and courts of the Old World positioned the fur trade as part of the country's industrial economy. Fur farming and conservation became increasingly important, although the lonely life of the trapper remained the same. This film offers a view of both.
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In Bed with an ElephantKent Martin 1986 59 minThis feature documentary provides a gripping retrospective of United States-Canada relationships through a study of successive presidents and prime ministers. Using archival film footage, it demonstrates that Canadian prime ministers, from John A. Macdonald down, all began their tenures by making overtures to their American counterparts. Attitudes and outcomes have varied widely. The almost comic antipathy between Kennedy and Diefenbaker, for instance, is as palpable here as is the folksy camaraderie of Reagan and Mulroney. Part four of Reckoning: The Political Economy of Canada series.
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Land for Pioneers1944 16 minBoth exploration and the fur trade opened up Canada's Northwest Territories, a land for pioneers. The magic of gold once lured thousands into the Yukon, but greater riches lie east of the Klondike, imbedded in the rocks and tundra of the Canadian Shield. The farm areas, the fisheries, the forests, and the rivers of northern British Columbia and the Prairie provinces also promise wealth. The Alaska Highway opened up potential grain fields, and air routes form a close link with the busy centers of the South, encouraging industrial development.
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Terra NovaRoger Blais 1964 18 minAmong these lively impressions of Newfoundland today, colored by history and by the sea, there are scenes of historic events, fishing on the high seas and squid jigging inshore, mining deep underground, and operations of the giant pulp and paper industry.
