While in England, Robertson approached the management of the
Hudson's Bay Company with plans to expand their trading network inland, to the area around
Lake Athabasca, putting economic competition on the North West Company. In 1814, he returned to Canada in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, with instructions to carry out his plan. He organised the first overland HBC expedition from Montreal to the north-west, leading a large collection of experienced French-Canadian fur-trading
voyageurs. Robertson was charismatic, over six feet tall, red-haired, fond of quoting Shakespeare, and with considerable self-confidence and generosity, necessary to lead groups of men in the wilderness of the fur trade. One of his sayings was "When you're with wolves, howl!" He knew the country well, and the practices of the North West Company. He was successful in establishing the HBC in the Athabasca country, which put enough economic pressure on the North West Company that they eventually had to merge with the HBC some years later. When Robertson arrived in the
Red River Colony (now
Manitoba) in 1815, he found that the North West Company traders had burnt many of the buildings and driven the Red River settlers away. Robertson led the settlers back to Red River and worked out an accommodation with the Nor'Westers, although he twice seized their fort,
Fort Gibraltar, during the negotiations. He also rebuilt the HBC fort,
Fort Douglas, which had been burnt down by the Nor'Westers. Robertson was unable to come to an agreement with
Robert Semple, the new governor of
Assiniboia, about Robertson's plan to stop the supplies of the Nor'Westers, particularly
pemmican, on which the traders depended. Robertson travelled to
York Factory on
Hudson's Bay, intending to return to England. While waiting for a ship to England, he heard that Semple and twenty of his men had been killed in an affray with the Nor'Westers at the
Battle of Seven Oaks, part of the
Pemmican War. By August 1817, Robertson was back in Montreal. Jailed for a short time, he stood trial on charges arising from his seizure of Fort Gibraltar. He was acquitted in the spring of 1818. Robertson then led a new HBC expedition to the Athabasca country. He was taken prisoner twice by
Samuel Black of the North West Company, who planned to charge him with attempted murder, but he escaped both times, fled to the
United States, and returned to England.
Lord Selkirk, who had been guaranteeing Robertson's business debts, had died and Robertson was forced to flee to
France to avoid being imprisoned for debt. He went into bankruptcy, paying his creditors two shillings on the pound. In 1821, the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company merged and Robertson became a chief factor in the new company. Now that the two companies were no longer competing, men of action were valued less by the company than those with administrative skills. He held various positions in Rupert's Land and the north-west. At some point Robertson had married Theresa Chalifoux, a Métis woman. He treated her with respect but the HBC governor,
George Simpson, was disdainful of the relationship, based on his racial views. In 1825, Robertson travelled to England to provide for the education of their eldest son, also named Colin. The tension between Robertson and Simpson broke into the open when Robertson tried to introduce his wife into the small social life of the Red River colony in 1831, leading to a major quarrel between the two men. Robertson planned to retire but in 1832 he had a paralyzing
stroke, from which he never fully recovered. He continued to hold down positions with the HBC, intermittently. He received a final payout from the company in 1840, and retired to Montreal. == Political life ==