It's the 250th anniversary of the 'Indian Magna Carta'

The Royal Proclamation, a pivotal moment in Canadian history gets a small celebration

 

 

On Monday a symposium of academics and aboriginal leaders gathers near Ottawa to commemorate one of the most important documents in Canadian history.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763, issued by King George III, essentially defined the relationship between the Crown and the native peoples in the new territories in North America acquired by the British — land that would become Canada. 

The document became a guide to all treaty-making since, and its presence is felt in the legal underpinnings of Confederation in 1867 and in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982. Some refer to it as the Indian Magna Carta.

The Creating Canada symposium marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the document was organized by the Land Claims Agreements Coalition, a group of modern treaty governments and organizations in Canada.

In a press release, the coalition's co-chair, Mitchell Stevens, president of Nisqa'a Nation, said, "The Royal Proclamation of 1763 is a foundational document in Canadian history because it affirms the government-to-government relationship between First Nations and the Crown."

The Royal Proclamation put in writing the inherent right of aboriginals to their land, and it acknowledged the "the great Frauds and Abuses have been committed in the purchasing Lands of the Indians, to the great Prejudice of Our Interests, and to the great Dissatisfaction of the said Indians."


http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/it-s-the-250th-anniversary-of-the-indian-magna-carta-1.1927667?cmp=rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

The Real Story of Canada's "Good Indian"

 

 

October 5, 2013 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of the great Shawnee warrior Tecumseh.

For almost two years I have been working on an article that examines his role in North American history and in the evolution of aboriginal and non-aboriginal relations since his death.

Not only was he an extremely important (and largely misunderstood) historical figure, but what he believed in and stood for continues to resonate in the indigenous movement to this day, and can be traced directly to the heart of the sorry state of our relations. As with the tale of Tecumseh, these modern relations have been marked by a repeated pattern of misunderstanding, betrayal and ignorance.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/allan-gregg/tecumseh-death-anniversary-_b_4044845.html?utm_hp_ref=tw