Canada's History

The Beaver was founded in 1920 as part of the Hudson's Bay Company's 250th anniversary celebrations. It was seen as a staff publication "devoted to the Interests of Those Who Serve the Hudson's Bay Company."

The first issue appeared in October 1920, under the banner, The Beaver, A Journal of Progress—the "successful name" in a staff competition. Five thousand copies were printed and distributed at a total cost of $570.

According to Charles Sale, who became the 29th Governor of HBC, there was a "purely personal and domestic character" to the initial magazine. Sale felt this approach was too narrow. He envisioned The Beaver as "one of exceeding use to ...Staff; but also a publication that could ...be distributed to customers to their benefit and is, at the same time a practical reminder (through advertising) of the Company's existence and of the goods which it offers."

Beginning with the December 1923 issue, the company began offering the magazine to non-Hudson's Bay employees at a rate of one dollar a year – a rate still in effect well into the '30s. The following year, the magazine ceased being a monthly publication and became a quarterly.

Significant changes took place in 1933 with the September issue. The original digest format was replaced by a standard magazine design. The magazine also re-focussed its content, transitioning from "A Journal of Progress" to "A Magazine of the North."

The content of the new Beaver was broadened to "include the whole field of travel, exploration and the trade in the Canadian North as well as the current activities and historical background of the Hudson's Bay Company and all its departments throughout Canada." Staff news was de-emphasized and would be handled by other company publications. Over the next 50 years, the magazine came into its stride. The Beaver came to offer a wealth of information on Canada's social, cultural, economic and commercial past. Some of Canada's leading historians have written for the magazine including:

• Pierre Berton
• Michael Bliss
• Donald Creighton
• Desmond Morton
• Peter C. Newman
• Veronica Strong-Boag

The Beaver was also one of the first magazines to publish the works of wildlife artist Clarence Tillenius and Arctic photographer Richard Harrington.

In 1986, The Beaver became a bimonthly magazine. The publisher also decided to break with tradition and expand the focus of the magazine to include all Canadian history—introducing Atlantic and Central Canadian stories for the first time. This was reflected by the creation of a new masthead: "Exploring Canada's History."

 

In 1994, Canada's National History Society was founded; that same year, it acquired The Beaver from the Hudson's Bay Company.

While still named The Beaver, the masthead carried a new slogan: "Canada's History Magazine," and continued to publish a bimonthly mix of features, columns, reviews, notes and commentary. Under the leadership of the History Society the magazine modernized its production and promotion programs.

In 2004, the Society launched its "baby" edition, Kayak: Canada's History Magazine for Kids, with a French version available quarterly as an insert in Les Debrouillards. The magazine aims to show Canadian history in a way that children find engaging, relevant and fun.

Access to the full Beaver archive was achieved through the creation of an online index. With close to 15,000 records entered, visitors can conduct searches free-of-charge and read over five decades of articles. The creation of the index made it possible to participate in the Canadian Content Online Program and use The Beaver archive to highlight Canada's fur trade history with the digital project Fur Trade Stories.

Since the April–May 2010 issue, the magazine has been renamed Canada's History. At the time of the name change, the magazine was in the process of redesigning its website, and also, rebranding its publishing activities. The name change was enacted in order to unify both the print and online banners under a single Canada's History brand. The fact that there has been some confusion by people believing that the publication is a nature magazine was also cited,^[2] as well as the use of the word "beaver" in slang to refer to a vagina, which would often result in promotional emails from the magazine being sent to the spam folder.^[5][6]

American news satirist Stephen Colbert poked fun at the decision.^[7]

Kayak: Canada’s History Magazine for Kids (French: Kayak: Navigue dans l’histoire du Canada) is the youth edition of Canada's History, meant for readers aged 7 to 12 years old.^[3] As of May 2021^[update], the editor of this magazine is Nancy Payne.^[4]

Launched in 2004, it is published 4 times a year in English, with a shorter French version available in conjunction with the publication Les Debrouillards. (Full-length French versions are also occasionally published.)^[3]

• Canada's History Official site
• Kayak Magazine Official Site
• The Colbert Report on Canada's History
• Canada's History's response to Stephen Colbert's humour