1763 - 1791: The Royal Proclamation, 1763, and the Québec Act, 1774

A new document in 1763 called the Royal Proclamation set the boundaries of a new colony called Québec - which was now under British control. This document would open a new chapter in European-Aboriginal relations, because it was the first document that called for land cession negotiations. For the first time, the Aboriginal people would be expected to extinguish their rights to the land in order for large-scale colonial settlement to take place.

Topics in this section:

The Royal Proclamation, 1763
Aboriginal View of Land Ownership
The Québec Act, 1774

Eastern North America, 1763

The Royal Proclamation, 1763

In 1763, the Royal Proclamation was created to integrate New France into the British Empire in North American. It created the Province of Québec along a fairly narrow stretch of land located along the shores of the St. Lawrence River. Part of the proclamation, however, expressively dealt with Aboriginal issues.

The British, who now controlled Québec, wanted settlement to take place within the colony, but also wanted to ensure Aboriginals had their own land for reserve settlements. This was especially important as the British expected an overflow of settlers from the Thirteen Colonies to move north. However, this move to protect Aboriginal land ultimately frustrated British settlers and merchants in the colony.

Britain did not want land deals to be done by the settlers to protect Aboriginal interests. The Royal Proclamation hints at the reason: it notes that British interests were, prior to 1763, responsible for "great fraud and abuses" in obtaining land from Aboriginals that had caused the latter "great dissatisfaction". After all, only a decade earlier, the Mohawk had broken the covenant chain with the American colonies due to Anglo-American settlement that had occurred on Aboriginal lands without permission. After spending years fighting the French in North America and abroad, the British wanted to gain the allegiance of the Aboriginals to prevent further costly and bloody frontier wars, as more British settlers arrived.

Thus, they ensured that any future negotiation with the Aboriginals was to be in done in public by representatives of the British crown, and that the final results of such negotiations would be recorded in written treaties. The proclamation also gave Britain the right to purchase Aboriginal hunting and fishing grounds, but gave Aboriginals the right to hunt and fish on these acquired lands. This would be very important in future claims and court cases by Aboriginal nations.

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In October and November 1768, a conference was held at Fort Stanwix, New York, to fix the boundaries of the reserved hunting grounds provided for in the Royal Proclamation between all sides of the covenant chain. The Iroquois thanked the British for 'polishing the chain' when its sides had grown dull.

	The Royal Proclamation, 1763

Aboriginal View of Land Ownership

The concept of land ownership was completely alien to the Native peoples. From an Aboriginal cultural and spiritual perspective, land cannot be bought or sold. They saw themselves as the spiritual guardians of the land, not its actual owners. Land was considered a gift from the Creator or Great Spirit, and its resources were to be used for survival purposes only.

Thus, the concept of 'surrendering' land was one that caused great of confusion within Aboriginal communities, and may have contributed to further injustices against the Aboriginals - notably, the signings of the Upper Canada and other treaties. This Aboriginal view of land ownership is one of the roots to many Aboriginal rights and land issues today.

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The Québec Act, 1774

This act was an extension of the Royal Proclamation meant to push Québec's boundaries into Aboriginal land located past the Great Lakes into the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. It has been interpreted that the spirit of the Royal Proclamation was to be kept in acquiring Aboriginal land for the British. From the British perspective, it had two goals: to keep French Canadian neutral in the coming uprising in the Thirteen Colonies, and to keep Aboriginal peoples on the side of the British.

Settlers in the Thirteen Colonies were upset by British encroachment into Aboriginal lands that they considered to be theirs, and considered the Québec Act to be one of the "Intolerable Acts", which were a direct cause of the American Revolution.

Despite the covenant chain and its promises of neutrality, four of the six Iroquois nations fought on the side of the British during the American Revolution. After the Revolution was over, the non-Loyalist Iroquois that did not fight were excluded from the chain.

The Constitution Act, 1791, later replaced the Québec Act and divided Québec into Upper and Lower Canada.

	The Québec Act, 1774

	The Constitution Act, 1791