Winnipeg, MB, June 11, 2026 — Today the Métis National Council (MNC) participated in the welcoming ceremony and reception for the Hudson’s Bay Company Royal Charter of 1670 in Winnipeg, as the historic document begins a new chapter in public stewardship. President Victoria Pruden was invited to attend and was represented by Secretary Sarah Wolfe from the Otipemisiwak Métis Government, who attended on behalf of the MNC. Following its purchase by the Weston and Thomson families, the Charter has been entrusted to a consortium of four public Canadian institutions: The Manitoba Museum, The Archives of Manitoba, The Canadian Museum of History, and The Royal Ontario Museum where it will now be jointly stewarded and made accessible to Canadians.
For the Métis Nation, the Charter holds particular and lasting significance. The fur trade economies and kinship networks that developed under the Hudson’s Bay Company contributed to the historical conditions that supported the emergence of Métis Nation as a distinct Indigenous People, with our own culture, traditions, languages, and nationhood that continues to thrive across the Métis Nation Homeland today. While the Charter itself did not create the Métis Nation, it shaped many of the historical realities through which Métis communities flourished and our Nation emerged.
“The transition of the Charter into public stewardship presents an important opportunity to reflect on our shared history with honesty and complexity,” says President Pruden. “For the Métis Nation, this history is not abstract, it is deeply connected to our origins, our communities, and our continued presence across the Homeland. As Canadians engage with this document, it is important that Métis perspectives and experiences are part of the story being told.”
With the Charter now in public stewardship, MNC calls upon the HBC Royal Charter Consortium to engage meaningfully with the MNC and Métis Governments in the co-development of how the Royal Charter is publicly interpreted and presented, ensuring Métis histories, perspectives, and experiences are meaningfully reflected. As Canadians engage with the Royal Charter and its legacy, the MNC believes it is essential that the full complexity of this shared history be meaningfully understood and reflected. Ensuring Métis voices, experiences, and histories are part of this conversation is critical to advancing understanding, strengthening relationships, and supporting reconciliation for future generations.