Mr. Speaker, 250 years ago this month, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued by King George III establishing a boundary, the proclamation line, between the British colonies on the Atlantic coast and the aboriginal lands west of the Appalachian Mountains and establishing the important precedent that aboriginal peoples had rights to the lands they occupied.
The Royal Proclamation prohibited the purchase of aboriginal land by individuals and required all future purchases of land to be made by Crown servants.
It is the first document of the Crown to recognize aboriginal rights and freedoms. It laid the foundation for all future treaties and was so important that in 1982, it was included in section 25 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
I ask all members in the House to join me in recognizing this historic anniversary for aboriginal peoples.