Royal Proclamation and Covenant of Reconciliation - TRC Calls 45-47

Continuing our journey of awareness as Canadians about the document, Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Today we read the Report's Calls to Action 45-47, which relate to the development of a Royal Proclamation of Reconciliation by the Crown and Indigenous Nations. This is a call to Canada's government to remember that the original relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Crown, referred to in the Royal Proclamation of 1763, is nation-to-nation. This is a further reminder to the Canadian Government that the Queen continues to be the Head of State and that there has never been a mutually agreed-upon dissolution of the original nation-to-nation agreement between the original parties. This offers hope for the creation of jointly-built Royal Proclamation of Reconciliation. 

Calls 45-47 call upon the Canadian government and the religious groups who were parties to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius. These proclamations promoted free reign for European domination over the non-Christian Indigenous nations and permission to steal their lands. 

Royal Proclamation and Covenant of Reconciliation 

45. We call upon the Government of Canada, on behalf of all Canadians, to jointly develop with Aboriginal peoples a Royal Proclamation of Reconciliation to be issued by the Crown. The proclamation would build on the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and the Treaty of Niagara of 1764, and reaffirm the nation-to-nation relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Crown. The proclamation would include, but not be limited to, the following commitments: 

    i. Repudiate concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples such as the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius. 

    ii. Adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the framework for reconciliation. 

    iii. Renew or establish Treaty relationships based on principles of mutual recognition, mutual respect, and shared responsibility for maintaining those relationships into the future. 

    iv. Reconcile Aboriginal and Crown constitutional and legal orders to ensure that Aboriginal peoples are full partners in Confederation, including the recognition and integration of Indigenous laws and legal traditions in negotiation and implementation processes involving Treaties, land claims, and other constructive agreements. 

46. We call upon the parties to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement to develop and sign a Covenant of Reconciliation that would identify principles for working collaboratively to advance reconciliation in Canadian society, and that would include, but not be limited to: 

    i. Reaffirmation of the parties’ commitment to reconciliation. 

    ii. Repudiation of concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples, such as the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius, and the reformation of laws, governance structures, and policies within their respective institutions that continue to rely on such concepts. 

    iii. Full adoption and implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the framework for reconciliation. 

    iv. Support for the renewal or establishment of Treaty relationships based on principles of mutual recognition, mutual respect, and shared responsibility for maintaining those relationships into the future. 

    v. Enabling those excluded from the Settlement Agreement to sign onto the Covenant of Reconciliation. 

    vi. Enabling additional parties to sign onto the Covenant of Reconciliation. 

47. We call upon federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to repudiate concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous peoples and lands, such as the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius, and to reform those laws, government policies, and litigation strategies that continue to rely on such concepts.