As the Hudson’s Bay Company moves to liquidate all its assets, it has been granted permission to begin selling off 4,400 artifacts and art pieces. Included in these corporate assets is the 355-year-old Royal Proclamation Charter that founded the historic company.
History and Indigenous studies professor Cody Groat is Chair of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO Memory of the World Advisory Committee, which has been advocating Hudson’s Bay to find a public home for the document, rather than allowing it to move to a private collection. Groat explains the historical significance of the royal charter for Canada and Indigenous Peoples.
Western News: What is the Royal Charter?
Cody Groat (CG): The Royal Proclamation Charter of the Hudson’s Bay Company was granted in 1670 by King Charles II. It is the founding document of the Hudson’s Bay Company and governed its early operations in contemporary Canada.
The Hudson’s Bay Company archives were donated to the Province of Manitoba in 1994, but the Royal Proclamation Charter was never transferred because it was still being actively used as a corporate record. In 2007, the UNESCO Memory of the World program recognized the international significance of the Hudson’s Bay Company archives, but the Royal Proclamation Charter was not included in this commemorative designation because it was still privately held by the Bay.
Why is it significant?
CG: The Royal Proclamation Charter gave unprecedented powers to the Hudson’s Bay Company, which was allowed to act as both a business and as a colonial government at the time. The wording of the Royal Proclamation Charter vested power to the company based on the idea that the lands were, “not already possessed by the subjects of any other Christian Prince or State,” attempting to erase First Nations political sovereignty.
The power vested in the company through the Royal Proclamation Charter was evident through the negotiation of the Vancouver Island Treaties from 1850-1854 in British Columbia by Sir James Douglas in his dual capacities as both the Governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island and the local Chief Factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company (the highest-ranking local employee).
The Royal Proclamation Charter also served as the legal foundation for the Hudson’s Bay Company to sell Rupert’s Land (its North American territories) to Canada in 1869, facilitating the establishment and entrance of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta into Canadian Confederation, without the consent of First Nations, Inuit or Metis peoples.
What is the current fate of the charter?
CG: The Hudson’s Bay Company filed for creditor protection earlier this year, starting a process similar to bankruptcy. To address its outstanding debts, the Hudson’s Bay Company is selling off its assets, including brick-and-mortar buildings. The Royal Proclamation Charter of 1670 has been recognized as a corporate asset through the creditor protection process. The company has requested permission from a judge to sell off its assets, including artifacts and works of art, as a way to address its debts.
There has been significant push back to this request. The remaining Hudson’s Bay Company archives, housed at the Archives of Manitoba, have been recognized as internationally significant through the UNESCO Memory of the World program. Because of this, the Canadian Commission for UNESCO Memory of the World Advisory Committee wrote to the governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company asking for the Royal Proclamation Charter to be excluded from the public auction.
In a court ruling on April 24, Judge Peter Osborne allowed the auction to move forward but said some items should be excluded if they are deemed to be historically or culturally significant. The Hudson’s Bay Company will appear in court at a later date to outline the proposed strategy for an auction, including which items will be excluded. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) has requested First Nations oversight in the deliberation process and the AMC is to receive a copy of the auction catalogue as soon as possible.
Why do you think it’s important these items don’t end up in a private collection?
CG: The full extent of the items the Hudson’s Bay Company plans to auction off is presently unknown. These could include items sacred to First Nations.
The Royal Proclamation Charter in particular is a foundational document and critical to the historical development of Canada as a nation. It is a clear example of a monarch, King Charles II, attempting to erase the political sovereignty of First Nations and Inuit and granting it instead to a private corporation. Because of this, the ownership and stewardship of the Hudson’s Bay Company items is highly consequential.
Of most concern is that there are very few legislative mechanisms to prevent these items from leaving the country. Export delays might be issued for a short period of time if an item deemed culturally significant was shipped out of the country, allowing a Canadian institution the chance to make a competing offer for it to stay within the country, but the limited financial resources of Canadian cultural institutions makes this retention difficult.
Expert explainers reflect the perspective and scholarly interest of Western faculty members and is not an articulation of official university policy on issues being addressed.
