The return of the Hudson Bay Company charter

The much-reported HBC auction is over. Subject only to a judicial nod, the Hudson Bay Company charter will remain in Canada, thanks to the generosity of two of Canada’s wealthiest families.

Commonly called the charter, it is in fact the Royal Proclamation of King Charles II, dated May 2, 1670, granting the “Governor and Company of Adventurers Trading into Hudson Bay” the exclusive rights to trade in all the lands in the Hudson Bay drainage basin. The company controlled trade in most of the Prairie provinces, a huge swath of Ontario, Quebec and part of what is now Nunavut.

The charter is arguably the single most important historical document in Canada. The activities of the company it created set the course of Canadian history, through exploration, trade, settlement and relations with Indigenous Peoples.

We are fortunate that it will be remaining in Canada.

Manitobans should be especially pleased the charter will be housed in the Archives of Manitoba — joining all the other Hudson Bay Company archives dating back to the early explorers at the time of the establishment of the company.

But this is not the first time the charter will be in Manitoba. In fact, it is not even the second time. It is a little-known fact that the charter was first in Manitoba nearly 30 years ago on April 25-26, 1996, when it was on display at the Manitoba Museum.

The occasion was the visit of then-prince Charles on a short visit to Canada, including two days in Manitoba. In recognition of the visit by the future king, the Manitoba team wanted to organize the visit around two of the prince’s passions — the environment and history, particularly the unique history of Manitoba.

One day was spent in Churchill appropriately touring Fort Prince of Wales and participating in the ceremonies for the creation of Wapusk National Park, which preserves a large section of the Hudson Bay lowlands — prime polar bear denning habitat.

In Winnipeg, Charles toured the Manitoba Museum, including the HBC Nonsuch replica of the sailing ship that first sailed for the HBC into Hudson Bay — built to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the company.

The original HBC charter was to be the highlight.

However, it turned out that obtaining the charter for display during the royal visit was no easy task. At first, The Bay corporate officers were not inclined to move the charter from Toronto to Winnipeg. We tried to convince them that this was a unique historical occasion. Charles II had signed the proclamation over 325 years previously, and if history took its course, the prince would become Charles III. The visit to the museum would be the prince’s first opportunity to see the charter granted by his namesake.

It took some convincing. We did remind the corporate officer that a couple of them would of course be invited to the event at the museum, as well as the official provincial dinner that evening. And, an introduction to HRH would be in order.

Within a day the answer was yes, the Hudson Bay Company would bring their charter to Winnipeg.

At the museum Charles spent a considerable time standing alone reading the royal proclamation. I was advised by one of his senior staff that as far as they knew, this was the first time the prince would have seen a document signed by Charles II.

The story continues. The fact that the charter exists today in prime condition for a 355-year-old document is due in part to the request to bring the proclamation to Winnipeg in 1996.

During one of the events, the HBC corporate secretary advised me that they owed us a debt of gratitude for inviting them to bring the charter to Winnipeg. In readying it for transport, their archivist’s inspection revealed a leak in the case housing the document, allowing air to infiltrate. If left uncorrected, it would have contributed to a more rapid deterioration of the document. The leak as he referred to it, was fixed. “It was fortunate you called us,” he told me.

So, the royal proclamation should be welcomed home. Although it will be on display elsewhere in Canada from time to time, Winnipeg is the appropriate home. Not only was Winnipeg the first Canadian corporate head office of The Bay when it relocated from London to Canada, but the Governor of The Bay was for many years George Richardson. Earlier as a member of the board of HBC, it was he who convinced the company to donate the Nonsuch to Manitoba.

The history of the Hudson Bay Company truly resides in Manitoba.

Don Leitch served as the Manitoba clerk of the executive council and cabinet secretary (twice).