By Neil Vallance and Hamar Foster [The Royal Proclamation’s] force as a statute is analogous to the status of Magna Carta which has always been considered to be the law throughout the Empire. It was a law which followed the flag as England assumed jurisdiction over newly-discovered or acquired lands or territories. It follows, therefore, that the Colonial Laws Validity… Read more »
By Robert Englebert On October 7, 1763, only months after signing the Treaty of Paris and ending the Seven Years’ War, Britain sought to confirm sovereignty over its newly acquired territories in North America through a Royal Proclamation. ‘The Royal Proclamation’ – as it is now known – was a document designed to address the challenges born of conquest. The… Read more »
By Brandon Morris and Jay Cassel The Royal Proclamation is not an ancient document but it has remained in effect for 250 years, even if it is not well known by Canadians. It became the framework for treaty-making in relation to land rights in the decades after 1763 and as such it is a core document in Crown-First Nations relations…. Read more »
By John S. Long The tensions in the Royal Proclamation have ebbed and flowed over the past 250 years and, of course, are still with us today. The treaty relationships that unite First Peoples with other Canadians are inherently problematic, due to our differing understandings (or perhaps outright ignorance) of history. Notwithstanding the Proclamation, and the gubernatorial proclamations that reinforced… Read more »
By Alan Ojiig Corbiere, Bne Doodeman, Mchigiing Njibaa This year marks the 250th Anniversary of the Royal Proclamation, but for some reason it does not mark the 250th Anniversary of the action taken by Odaawaa Chief Pontiac and others. A piece of paper signed by King George III receives more attention than the actions of this chief and his colleagues. … Read more »
By Keith Jamieson THE COVENANT CHAIN RELATIONSHIP The Haudenosaunee/Six Nations have a very different understanding of the Royal Proclamation of 1763. While the document stated the process by which the Crown would engage native people in acquiring lands for settlement, it also asserted the sovereignty of the Crown over all people in North America. To the Haudenosaunee, this unilateral proclamation… Read more »
By Donald Fyson The Royal Proclamation of 1763 holds an ambiguous place in debates over Quebec’s relationship with Canada. In sovereignist discourse, it is regularly evoked as a baleful reminder of British perfidy towards francophone Quebecers. The relatively benign military occupation between 1759/1760 and 1764 raised false hopes in the minds of the Canadiens (the French-descended colonists). The Royal Proclamation… Read more »
By Denys Delâge and Jean-Pierre Sawaya Translated by Thomas Peace On 24 December 1763 the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Sir William Johnson, in the name of the British King George III, publicized the Royal Proclamation of 7 October 1763. In the weeks following Johnson’s announcement a paper copy was posted in the Catholic missions along the St. Lawrence Valley. In… Read more »
By John Reid The implications of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 for the territories and adjoining waters of what was later to be known as Atlantic Canada were profound. They were also diffuse and varied widely according to the political and physical geography of that vast area. The Proclamation redrew the imperial political geography. To the existing colony of Nova… Read more »
By Brian Slattery The Royal Proclamation is now 250 years old. Is it still relevant today? Arguably not. The document was drafted in London in the spring and summer of 1763 by a handful of bureaucrats and politicians. It was part of a project to enforce British imperial claims to a vast American territory from which France had recently withdrawn. … Read more »
