Philanthropy and Legal Framework in Canadian Historical Auctions

As the Hudson’s Bay Company continues to sell off what it owns to pay back creditors, a historic document has come up for sale. The Bay’s charter is its founding document, dating back to 1670, in which King Charles II gave the company exclusive trading rights over much of what would become Canada.

Now the court is grappling with finding a process to sell this one-of-a-kind piece of Canadian history after an offer from Galen Weston and his family derailed plans for an auction. Susan Krashinsky Robertson explains how the sale of this document has raised a lot of questions about who gets to own history, who gets to decide and how some of Canada’s wealthiest families have expressed interest in buying it.

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