The Hudson’s Bay Company is 355 years old—older than Canada itself, older than most modern democracies. But as the once-mighty retailer moves to liquidate its remaining assets, history is being priced and prepared for bidding. Among the approximately 4,400 artifacts and artworks HBC has cleared to offload is the original Royal Charter that created the company in 1670. The auction hasn’t been scheduled yet, but the pushback is already underway. Experts, historians, and Indigenous groups argue the item isn’t just surplus inventory but part of the country’s origin story. They are calling for its preservation in Canadian archives. To understand what’s at stake when a private company sells off public memory, I spoke over Zoom with Leslie Weir, the Librarian and Archivist of Canada.

What is the Royal Charter?

The charter is the royal document issued by King Charles II in 1670. It vested control in the Hudson’s Bay Company over all lands whose rivers emptied into Hudson Bay—about one-third of the continent. And as such, it’s one of the first documents about the country that’s now known as Canada. The charter basically ignored the sovereignty of the peoples already living there.

Would you call it one of Canada’s founding documents?

I think there are experts who are looking at that. Canada has quite a few founding documents, going back to the British North America Act of 1867, that created the Dominion of Canada. And then, of course, the Proclamation of the Constitution Act of 1982, when we repatriated the constitution. The Royal Charter not only created a corporation—it created a colonial government. In fact, HBC ultimately signed some of the first treaties recognizing rights and title with Indigenous peoples. As such, I think it marked a critical moment in this country’s history.

But you’re suggesting that we can draw a straight line from the charter to........

© The Walrus