The Royal Proclamation of 1763

• The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ended more than 150 years of European competition and conflict.
• Through this agreement, France gave up its colonial territories in what is now Canada, including Acadia, New France and the Interior lands of the Great Lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi valleys.
• To help achieve stable and peaceful relations with First Nations, King George III issued a Royal Proclamation in 1763, which established a firm boundary between the British colonies on the Atlantic coast and Indigenous lands (called the Indian Reserve) west of the Appalachian Mountains.
• The Province of Quebec was created out of the colony of New France.
• The territory northeast of the St. John River on the Labrador coast was placed under the Newfoundland Colony.
• The lands west of Quebec and west of a line running along the crest of the Allegheny mountains became Indian territory
• All land with rivers that flowed into the Atlantic was designated for the colonies, while all the land with rivers that flowed into the Mississippi was reserved for the native Indian population.
• The Indian Department became the primary point of contact between First Nations and the colonies.
• Only the Crown could purchase land from a First Nation. All other land purchases were to be considered invalid and were dismissed.
• The original intent of the Royal Proclamation was to slow the uncontrolled expansion of the colonies.
• Most importantly, the Proclamation also became the first public recognition of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis rights to lands and title.
• The Royal Proclamation states that Indigenous title has existed and continues to exist, and that all land would be considered Aboriginal land until ceded by treaty
• The Royal Proclamation of 1763 is thus mentioned in Section 25 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
• The Royal Proclamation set a foundation for the process of establishing treaties.
• Treaty-making typically involved presence of both the First Nations group and the government, some form of consent between the two, and for the First Nation to be compensated for any lands or resources taken
• Indigenous peoples continually have had to prove their existing title to the land through legal disputes
• For example, the vast majority of British Columbia has never been ceded by its Indigenous peoples, resulting in the argument that non-Aboriginal settlement in B.C. is on stolen land.
• The Province of British Columbia has maintained that the Royal Proclamation does not apply to B.C. since it had not yet been settled by the British when the Proclamation was issued in 1763.