Prompt no. 2
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 is a foundational document in Canadian history. The Proclamation was issued by King George III after the British victory in the Seven Years War against France, and outlined how governance would take place in North America. It set out policies meant to ensure French assimilation into British colonial society, such as the imposition of British law and the exclusion of Catholics from public office. The Royal Proclamation was a key legal instrument in the establishment of English colonial governments in North America.
For our purposes, The Royal Proclamation of 1763 is relevant in that it established an official relationship between the Crown and the Indigenous peoples. The Proclamation decrees that, while the Crown owns North America, the First Peoples have a prior claim and relationship to that land. Therefore, the Crown must negotiate and buy land from the relevant Indigenous nation in order to lawfully occupy it. Essentially, the Proclamation recognised a nation-to-nation relationship between the Indigenous and the settlers. There were lots of regulations regarding when and how these land transactions could take place; importantly, only the Crown is allowed to buy land from the First Nations under the Royal Proclamation. It also established a large reserve in the interior. Today, the Royal Proclamation is often referred to when there are land disputes, and many people argue over how and when its contents are applicable.
Coleman’s argument about white civility is interesting to apply to the Royal Proclamation. In contrast with later documents, such as the Act for the Gradual Civilization of the Indian Tribes (1857), the Royal Proclamation is not overtly premised upon the civil-barbaric dichotomy between white settler colonists and First Nations, and actually recognizes that Indigenous title has and continues to exist–it granted some level of legal recognition and rights, rather than eroded them, as many proceeding documents did. It restricted settler colonists from claiming land that hadn’t been ceded to the Crown through an official process, and laid the foundation for future treaty negotiations. Because of this, the Royal Proclamation is seen as an important step towards the recognition of Indigenous rights in Canada, and is sometimes called “the Indian Magna Carta.” The Royal Proclamation was still written by White colonials without Indigenous input, so it obviously privileges one side. It allowed the Crown to establish a monopoly on Indigenous land. It is also possible to draw a line between the “gentil civility” of the Royal Proclamation to the White civility that Coleman describes as a hallmark of Canadian identity.
Works Cited
Hall, Anthony J. “Royal Proclamation of 1763.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 30 Aug. 2019, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/royal-proclamation-of-1763.
Indigenous Foundations. “Royal Proclamation, 1763.” indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/royal_proclamation_1763. Accessed 25 Apr. 2021.
