Stolen Words: How a Con Man Rewrote the History of Canada’s Northwest

Alexander Henry is famous for being the first Englishman to venture into the Northwest after the fall of New France where he survived a massacure at Michilimackinac, helped found the North West Company, and mapped the foothills of the Rockies, a tale that was published under his name in 1809. His life parallelled the rivalry between the North West Company and the Hudson Bay Companythat shaped Canada, ending in the merger shortly before his death in 1824. Much of what we understand today about the early history of the north west, the victory of the Hudson Bay Company in the fur trade, and early relations between Indigenous people and settlers can be traced back to Henry and his famous book. But…most of what we think we know about Henry is wrong: it’s recently been discovered that he didn’t write his memoir which was stolen and largely fabricated by an English conartist named Edward Augustus Kendall. Henry’s actual biography is stranger than fiction and the things that Kendall choose to omit or make up— the myths we’ve come to believe—tell us much about the issues that Canada faces today, including relations with Indigenous people, continental and international trade, and the importance of factuality. Join Dr. Humphries for an exciting detective story that reveals hidden truths about collective past and contemplates how we come to accept history as fact.