In the Royal Proclamation of 1763, King George III used his “spiritual jurisdiction” to guarantee that Indigenous peoples owned their lands that they had not ceded by treaty. It continues to be cited by Indigenous peoples as a “foundational document” ensuring their territorial rights. This lecture examines the significance of the Royal Proclamation as a material artifact and a “metaphysical” legal document, to use John Borrows’ term.
“Public Memory and Indigenous Sovereignty: The Afterlives of the Royal Proclamation of 1763” Department of Religious Studies, University of Waterloo, November 2, 2016.