OTTAWA – As King Charles III and Queen Camilla prepare for their May 26–27 visit to Ottawa – which lies on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Nation and the Onkwehon:we and Anishinaabe nations belonging to the Dish with One Spoon peace agreement – members of the Ottawa 1701 Treaty Trade Council are mobilizing to bring urgent attention to the ongoing violations of Aboriginal and treaty rights by public servants of the Crown, most notably the reprehensible actions of City of Ottawa Police Services (OPS) Superintendent Jamie Dunlop. Supt. Dunlop has been intimidating landlords who rent to Indigenous trading posts in Ottawa and has led several unlawful raids on Algonquin and Mohawk businesses.
The Council is calling upon the King to acknowledge and act upon the failure of Supt. Dunlop and the Ottawa Police to uphold the terms of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 on the unceded “lands reserved for Indians” in Ottawa, and to respect the constitutionally protected rights of Indigenous peoples.
“We are not here to protest, we are here to remind the King that his Crown is still bound by the treaties it entered into with our nations,” said Chief Delbert Riley, the former National Chief and hereditary Crane Clan Chippewa Chief who negotiated the entrenchment of Aboriginal and treaty rights into the Canadian Constitution Act. “The Ottawa Police cannot continue to operate in breach of the very constitutional and Royal obligations they are sworn to uphold.”
“As an Algonquin business owner operating in our traditional territory, I see first-hand how our rights are being ignored, how our people are suffering in poverty while strangers benefit from our lands and resources,” said Anthony Tenasco, owner of Red Roots Trading and a member of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg. “We’re welcoming the King and Queen with respect, but also with a clear message: they are visiting our unceded land, and we have the Aboriginal and treaty right to retail and regulate legal commodities in our own Anishinabeg way.”
Members of the Ottawa 1701 Treaty Trade Council and allies will be present for all six of the King and Queen’s public events in Ottawa. They are inviting all Indigenous people and allies to join them in welcoming the Royals and informing them that their public servants are not upholding the terms of the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The Proclamation states that the Indians with whom the Crown is connected should not be “molested or disturbed in the Possession of such Parts of Our Dominions and Territories as, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us, are reserved to them.”
The Proclamation further states that it is not the Indians who need to acquire licenses to trade, for the Crown has directed that their trade will be “free and open to all our Subjects whatever,” but that it is the Crown’s subjects who need licenses to trade with Indians or to occupy unceded Indian lands.
Schedule of Treaty Council Activities
Monday, May 26, 2025
- 12:00 PM: Gathering at Macdonald-Cartier International Airport, Ottawa
- 1:00 PM: Gathering at Lansdowne Park for community engagement with the Royals
- 2:15 PM: Presence at Rideau Hall for ceremonial tree planting
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
- Treaty Council members will attend the royal procession to the Senate in Canada’s State Landau
- Gathering at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial
- 2:00 PM: Public meeting convened by the Ottawa 1701 Treaty Trade Council in the Rennaissance Room of the Fairmont Château Laurier at 1 Rideau St, Ottawa. Chief Delbert Riley and other Indigenous leaders and members of the Ottawa Treaty Council will publicly respond to the throne speech and address Ottawa Police Service’s failure to uphold Indigenous rights.
These events are part of an ongoing expression of treaty diplomacy, rooted in the Indigenous tradition of “polishing the Covenant Chain” – a call to restore respectful and reciprocal relationships between the Crown and the Original Peoples of these lands.
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