Thomson and Weston families submit $18-million joint bid for Hudson’s Bay charter

The 1670 royal charter signed by King Charles II establishing Hudson's Bay at the Manitoba Museum. The Thomson and Weston families, who previously had submitted their own separate bids for the charter, have submitted a joint bid.

Two of Canada’s most prominent families have proposed an $18-million deal to jointly purchase the 355-year-old Hudson’s Bay royal charter – a document that played a pivotal role in the country’s history – for donation to a selection of institutions that will preserve it and keep it publicly accessible.

The Thomson and Weston families, who previously had submitted their own separate bids for the parchment, have now submitted a joint bid that, if successful, would see the charter shared by the Archives of Manitoba, the Manitoba Museum, the Canadian Museum of Histo