Reflections on the Crown, Diana, and the Treaties: What Every Canadian Should Know

 Crown & Country: Truths Canadians Need to Know

Part 1: Diana, the Crown, and the Treaties 

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By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita

I was a teenager when Lady Diana Spencer married Prince Charles. Born in the same year as Diana, I felt a connection to her—her kindness, her grace, her vulnerability. Like many young women of my generation, I admired her deeply. She was the “People’s Princess,” and when I wrote her a letter asking for help to take a photography course I couldn’t afford, I was stunned to receive a response from one of her ladies-in-waiting. It felt like magic. I had no idea at the time how cruelly the media—especially the paparazzi—treated her. I was simply a young dreamer trying to find my way in the world.

Then came the day of her death. I remember the moment so clearly. The disbelief. I thought there had been a mistake. Diana, who had survived so much—surely she hadn’t died in that tunnel? It felt like the whole world paused in grief. Her loss shook me and millions of others, and I’ve never forgotten it.

But as I got older, my perspective changed. I began to understand more about the monarchy, about colonialism, and about the deep pain caused by the Crown’s legacy here in Canada. I learned about the treaties—agreements made not with the Canadian government, but with the British Crown. I learned about the horrors of the residential school system, and about how these institutions were part of a deliberate plan to erase Indigenous cultures, languages, and identities.

Here in British Columbia, much of the land is unceded. That means no treaty was ever signed. Our ancestors never gave up the land. It was taken. My family is of mixed heritage, including Indigenous roots that stretch back to time immemorial. My grandparents, and their grandparents, lived through eras of intense injustice—policies of erasure, control, and discrimination that still echo today.

Many Canadians don’t understand that the Crown still holds significance—not just symbolically, but legally. The treaties that exist were signed with the monarch, not with Canada’s Parliament or Prime Ministers. And that relationship carries ongoing responsibilities. So when King Charles visits Ottawa and delivers a speech, it may seem like pageantry—but it also connects to a very real, very unfinished story: the promise of nation-to-nation relationships and the broken agreements that must be addressed if reconciliation is ever to be meaningful.

It’s easy to dismiss the monarchy as outdated. But the Crown is written into Canada’s very structure. It's the legal basis for land treaties and constitutional protections—and also the source of deep historical trauma. It’s complicated. That’s why conversations like this matter.

I still carry empathy for Charles, especially now that he’s battling cancer. I can only imagine how heavy the burden of history must weigh—especially when it includes colonialism, privilege, and the ghosts of people like Diana, whose suffering was very public. But empathy doesn't mean silence. It means speaking the truth with care.

We need to keep asking: What does the Crown mean today? How do we honor Indigenous sovereignty? And how can Canadians become better informed—not just about royal visits, but about the stories that continue to shape this land?