Editing Rupert's Land (section)

==History==
[[File:NorthAmerica-WaterDivides.png|thumb|The [[Hudson Bay drainage basin]] connects primarily to the [[Labrador Sea]] just south of [[Davis Strait]] as depicted on most atlases such as those of the [[National Geographic Society]] just north of the [[60th parallel north]] and northeast of the [[Labrador Peninsula]]]]

Under the principles of the [[doctrine of discovery]], after the English visited and "discovered" Hudson's Bay, they could claim any lands found that were not already owned or "possessed" by other European or Christian nations. England claimed ownership of the lands surrounding Hudson's Bay. After explorations in 1659, [[Prince Rupert of the Rhine|Prince Rupert]] took interest in the Hudson's Bay region. The 1668–1669 expedition of the ''[[Nonsuch (1650 ship)|Nonsuch]]'' to the Hudson's Bay area returned with {{GBP|1400|year=1669}} worth of furs.{{sfn|Spencer |2007 | p=342}} However, England was not ready to organize a government on those lands. Instead, a "Company of Adventurers of England" was formed to administer those lands for England, thereby taking possession.

===English Royal Charter of 1670===
In 1670, King [[Charles II of England]] granted a [[royal charter]] to create the [[Hudson's Bay Company]], under the governorship of Prince Rupert, the king's cousin. According to the Charter, the HBC received rights to:

{{blockquote|The sole Trade and Commerce of all those Seas, {{not a typo|Streights}}, Bays, Rivers, Lakes, Creeks, and Sounds, in whatsoever Latitude they shall be, that lie within the entrance of the {{not a typo|Streights}} commonly called Hudson's {{not a typo|Streights}}, together with all the Lands, Countries and Territories, upon the Coasts and Confines of the Seas, {{not a typo|Streights}}, Bays, Lakes, Rivers, Creeks and Sounds, aforesaid, which are not now actually possessed by any of our Subjects, or by the Subjects of any other Christian Prince or State [...] and that the said Land be from henceforth reckoned and reputed as one of our Plantations or Colonies in America, called ''Rupert's Land''.<ref name = Charter>{{cite web|title=Royal Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company|url= http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/collections/archival/charter/charter.asp|website=Hudson's Bay Company|access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref>}}

The Charter applied to all lands within the [[Hudson Bay drainage basin|drainage basin of Hudson's Bay]]. It spanned an area of about {{convert|3861400|km2|sqmi}}, more than a third of all modern Canada.<ref name=atlas>{{cite web |title= Canada Drainage Basins |year= 1985 |work= The National Atlas of Canada, 5th edition |publisher= Natural Resources Canada |url= http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/archives/5thedition/environment/water/mcr4055 |access-date= 24 November 2010 |archive-date= 4 March 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110304184849/http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/archives/5thedition/environment/water/mcr4055 |url-status= dead }}</ref>

The royal charter made the "Governor and Company&nbsp;... and their Successors, the true and absolute Lords and Proprietors, of the same Territory...", and granted them the authority "...to erect and build such Castles, Fortifications, Forts, Garrisons, Colonies or Plantations, Towns or Villages, in any Parts or Places within the Limits and Bounds granted before in these Presents, unto the said Governor and Company, as they in their Discretion shall think fit and requisite...".<ref name =Charter/> In 1821, following the merger with the [[North West Company]], the Hudson's Bay Company's monopoly privileges and licence were extended to trade over the [[North-Western Territory]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Hudson's Bay Company, Struggle for Control of the Fur Trade: 18th Century|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/hudsons-bay-company/|website=The Canadian Encyclopedia|access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref>

The [[Rupert's Land Act 1868]], which was passed by the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]], authorized the sale of Rupert's Land to [[Canada]] with the understanding that "...'Rupert's Land' shall include the whole of the Lands and Territories held or claimed to be held by the..." Hudson's Bay Company.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Government of Canada|title=Rupert's Land Act, 1868 – Enactment No.1|url=http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/csj-sjc/constitution/lawreg-loireg/p2t11.html|website=Department of Justice| date=3 November 1999 |access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref> The prevailing attitude of the time was that Rupert's Land was owned by the Hudson's Bay Company because "...From the beginning to the end, the [Hudson's Bay Company] had always claimed up to the parallel 49...", and argued that the royal charter and various [[Act of Parliament|acts of Parliament]] granted them "...all the regions under British dominion watered by streams flowing into Hudson Bay...".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Government of Canada|title=Sessional Papers of the Parliament of the Dominion of Canada|date=1886|volume=19|issue=12|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kZA-AAAAYAAJ|access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref> Rupert's Land had been essentially a private continental estate covering 3.9 million km<sup>2</sup> in the heart of [[North America]] that stretched from the [[Atlantic]] to the [[Rocky Mountains]], and from the [[prairies]] to the [[Arctic Circle]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Rupert's Land, Massive Land Transfer|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ruperts-land/|website=The Canadian Encyclopedia|access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref> Even [[John A. Macdonald]], the then [[Prime Minister of Canada]], saw the land as being sold to Canada: "...No explanation has been made of the arrangement by which the country (Rupert's Land) is handed over to the Queen, and that it is her Majesty who transfers the country to Canada with the same rights to settlers as existed before. All these poor people know is that Canada has bought the Country from the Hudson's Bay Company, and that they are handed over like a flock of sheep to us...".{{Sfn|Plamondon|2013}}

In 1927, the Supreme Court of Canada held that the terms of the Charter had granted ownership of all the land in the Hudson Bay drainage to the company, including all precious minerals.<ref>[https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/9100/index.do ''Reference re Precious Metals in certain lands of the Hudson's Bay Co.'', [1927<nowiki>]</nowiki> SCR 458], at p. 466.</ref><ref>[https://esask.uregina.ca/entry/real_property.jsp Marjorie L. Benson and Don Purich, "Real Property", ''Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan'', Canadian Plains Research Centre, University of Regina, 2006.]</ref> However, this ruling did not settle the issue of [[aboriginal title]] over the land. At the time of the royal charter and the later Rupert's Land Act 1868, [[the Crown]] held the attitude that it already held [[sovereignty]] over the land from a people who only had a "...personal and usufructuary right, dependent upon the good will of the Sovereign...".<ref>{{cite CanLII|litigants=St. Catharines Milling and Lumber Co. v. R.|link=|year=1886|court=onca|num=30|format=canlii|pinpoint=|parallelcite=13 Ont. App. R. 148|date=1886-04-20|courtname=auto|juris=}}</ref> The ''[[Calder v British Columbia (AG)]]'' case in 1973 was the first case in [[Canadian law]] that acknowledged "...a declaration that the aboriginal title, otherwise known as the Indian title, of the plaintiffs to their ancient tribal territory hereinbefore described, has never been lawfully extinguished...".<ref>{{cite CanLII|litigants=Calder et al. v. Attorney-General of British Columbia|link=Calder v British Columbia (AG)|year=1973|court=scc|num=4|format=canlii|parallelcite=[1973] SCR 313|date=31 January 1973|courtname=auto|pinpoint=p. 423}}</ref>

===Surrender of the territory===
{{See also|Timeline of Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory transfer}}
In 1869–1870, when the Hudson's Bay Company surrendered its charter to the British Crown, it received £300,000 in compensation. Control was originally planned to be transferred on 1 December 1869, but due to the premature action of the new lieutenant governor, [[William McDougall (politician, born 1822)|William McDougall]], the people of Red River formed a provisional government that took control until arrangements could be negotiated by leaders of what is known as the [[Red River Rebellion]] and the newly formed government of Canada. As a result of the negotiations, Canada asserted control on 15 July 1870.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}

The transaction was three-cornered. On 19 November 1869, the company surrendered its charter under its letters patent to the British Crown, which was authorized to accept the surrender by the Rupert's Land Act. By [[order-in-council]] dated 23 June 1870,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory Order |url=https://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/rlo_1870.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720084637/http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/rlo_1870.html |archive-date=20 July 2011 |website=solon.org}}</ref> the British government admitted the territory to Canada, under s. 146 of the [[Constitution Act, 1867]],<ref>{{cite web |date=18 October 2015 |title=Constitution Act, 1867 s. 146 |url=http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-8.html |website=Justice Laws Website |publisher=Department of Justice}}</ref> effective 15 July 1870, subject to the making of treaties with the sovereign indigenous nations to provide their consent to the Imperial Crown to exercise its sovereignty pursuant to the limitations and conditions of the Rupert's Land documents and the treaties. Lastly, the Government of Canada compensated the Hudson's Bay Company £300,000 (£35,977,894 [[pound sterling]] in 2019 money, or $60,595,408 Canadian dollars) for the surrender of its charter on the terms set out in the order-in-council.

The company retained its most successful trading posts and one-twentieth of the lands surveyed for immigration and settlement.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}