"Two of Canada's wealthiest families have cleared the final hurdle on the road to buying and donating the royal charter that created the Hudson's Bay Co. Ontario Superior Court Judge Peter Osborne gave the shuttered retailer permission Thursday to sell the 355-year-old document to holding companies belonging to the Thomson and Weston families for $18 million. The families plan to donate the charter immediately and permanently to the Archives of Manitoba, the Manitoba Museum, the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., and the Royal Ontario Museum."
"Each of the organizations has already agreed to accept the charter, which was issued by King Charles II on May 2, 1670, and allowed for the creation of HBC, which was then a fur-trading business. The five-page vellum document was pivotal for the country, because it granted HBC control over one-third of modern Canada during its colonization, centuries before Confederation. It was put up for auction because Hudson's Bay filed for creditor protection in March and has since closed all of its stores; the defunct company has been selling off its trove of 4,400 pieces of art and artifacts to pay back those owed money."
The Thomson and Weston families purchased the 355-year-old royal charter that created Hudson's Bay Co. for $18 million through holding companies. The charter will be donated immediately and permanently to the Archives of Manitoba, the Manitoba Museum, the Canadian Museum of History and the Royal Ontario Museum. The charter, issued by King Charles II on May 2, 1670, enabled HBC's founding as a fur-trading enterprise and granted HBC control over roughly one-third of modern Canada during colonization. Hudson's Bay entered creditor protection in March, closed all stores, sold artifacts to repay creditors, and received a court-approved extension of creditor protection to March 31.
Read at www.cbc.ca
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