Canada Lands Surveys Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. L-6)

Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Canada Lands Surveys Act.

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

• 2 (1) In this Act,

  Board

  Board[Repealed, 1998, c. 14, s. 91]

  Canada Lands Surveyor

  Canada Lands Surveyor means a Canada Lands Surveyor within the meaning of section 2 of the Canada Lands Surveyors Act; (arpenteur des terres du Canada)

  candidate

  candidate[Repealed, 1998, c. 14, s. 91]

  commission

  commission[Repealed, 1998, c. 14, s. 91]

  Commissioner

  Commissioner means

  • (a) in respect of lands under his or her administration and control under the Yukon Act, the Commissioner of Yukon, and

  • (b) in respect of lands under his or her administration and control under the Northwest Territories Act, the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, and

  • (c) in respect of the lands referred to in subsection 49(1) of the Nunavut Act, the Commissioner of Nunavut; (commissaire)

  examination

  examination[Repealed, 1998, c. 14, s. 91]

  Minister

  Minister means, except in Part III, the Minister of Natural Resources; (ministre)

  monument

  monument means a post, stake, peg, mound, pit, trench or any other object, thing or device used under this Act or under the Dominion Lands Surveys Act, chapter 117 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1927, to mark a boundary of surveyed lands; (borne-signal)

  prescribed

  prescribed[Repealed, 1998, c. 14, s. 91]

  Secretary

  Secretary[Repealed, 1998, c. 14, s. 91]

  survey

  survey includes a resurvey and a special survey; (arpentage)

  surveyor

  surveyor means a Canada Lands Surveyor or a person who is entitled to survey lands in a province under the laws of the province; (arpenteur)

  Surveyor General

  Surveyor General means a person who is a Canada Lands Surveyor and is appointed as Surveyor General in the manner authorized by law or a person authorized by the Minister to carry out the duties of the Surveyor General. (arpenteur général)

• (2) [Repealed, 1998, c. 14, s. 91]

Administration

Marginal note:Minister to have control

• 3 (1) The Minister has the administration, direction and control of surveys under this Act.

• Marginal note:Duties of Surveyor General

  (2) The Surveyor General, subject to the direction of the Minister, has the management of surveys under this Act and the custody of all the original plans, journals, field notes and other papers connected with those surveys.

• Marginal note:Substitute for Surveyor General

  (3) The Minister may authorize an employee of the Department of Natural Resources who is a surveyor to carry out all or any of the duties of the Surveyor General.

Marginal note:Governor in Council may make regulations

• 4 (1) The Governor in Council may make such orders and regulations as he deems necessary to carry out this Act or to meet any cases with reference to surveys under the management of the Surveyor General for which no provision is made in this Act.

• Marginal note:Tariff of fees

  (2) The Minister may establish a tariff of fees to be charged by the Department of Natural Resources for copies of maps, plans, field notes, or any other type of record or document arising from or respecting surveys under this Act and those fees shall form part of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

PART IPowers and Duties of Canada Lands Surveyors

5 to 16 [Repealed, 1998, c. 14, s. 93]

Duties and Powers of Surveyors

Marginal note:Verification of surveys

• 17 (1) The Surveyor General shall require every surveyor to verify and affirm by oath or otherwise to the satisfaction of the Surveyor General on each return of his surveys under this Act that the surveyor has faithfully and correctly executed such surveys in accordance with this Act and with any instructions issued to the surveyor by the Surveyor General.

• Marginal note:Proceedings on false surveys

  (2) Where a court of competent jurisdiction finds that a survey or any part thereof has not been executed as verified under subsection (1), the Attorney General of Canada may, on application of the Surveyor General, institute proceedings to recover costs from the surveyor who verified the returns.

Marginal note:Field notes

18 Every surveyor shall keep exact and regular field notes of all his surveys under this Act and shall file them with the Surveyor General in the order of time in which the surveys have been performed.

19 to 21 [Repealed, 1998, c. 14, s. 94]

Marginal note:Surveys made by Canada Lands Surveyor under other Act

22 The provisions of sections 17, 18 and 23 apply, with any modifications that the circumstances require, to surveys under any other Act of Parliament, or any regulation made under such an Act, or any law of the Legislature of Yukon, of the Northwest Territories or for Nunavut if the Act, regulation or law requires the surveys to be made by a Canada Lands Surveyor.

Standard of Measure

Marginal note:Canadian measure of length

• 23 (1) The measure of length for surveys under this Act is the Canadian measure of length defined by the Weights and Measures Act.

• Marginal note:Means of measurement

  (2) In any survey under this Act, a surveyor shall use

  • (a) a measuring device that is of a type approved by the Surveyor General and that is calibrated, checked and verified in accordance with the instructions of the Surveyor General; or

  • (b) other means of measurement of length, position or direction authorized by the Surveyor General under the circumstances that the Surveyor General may prescribe.

PART IISurveys of Canada Lands

General

Marginal note:Definition of Canada Lands

• 24 (1) In this Part, Canada Lands means

  • (a) any lands belonging to Her Majesty in right of Canada or of which the Government of Canada has power to dispose that are situated in Yukon, the Northwest Territories or Nunavut and any lands that are

    • (i) surrendered lands or a reserve, as those expressions are defined in the Indian Act, other than reserve lands described in regulations made under section 4.1 of the First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act,

    • (ii) Category IA-N land, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Naskapi and the Cree-Naskapi Commission Act,

    • (ii.1) Category IA land, as defined in subsection 2(2) of the Cree Nation of Eeyou Istchee Governance Agreement Act,

    • (iii) shíshálh lands, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the shíshálh Nation Self-Government Act,

    • (iv) settlement land, as defined in the Yukon First Nations Self-Government Act, and lands in which an interest is transferred or recognized under section 21 of that Act,

    • (v) lands in the Kanesatake Mohawk interim land base, as defined in the Kanesatake Interim Land Base Governance Act, other than the lands known as Doncaster Reserve No. 17, or

    • (vi) Tlicho lands, as defined in section 2 of the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act; and

  • (a.1) any lands belonging to Her Majesty in right of Canada or of which the Government of Canada has power to dispose that are situated in any National Park of Canada or in the Rouge National Urban Park established by the Rouge National Urban Park Act; and

  • (b) any lands under water belonging to Her Majesty in right of Canada or in respect of any rights in which the Government of Canada has power to dispose.

• Marginal note:Surveys of Canada Lands

  (2) Surveys of Canada Lands shall be made in accordance with the instructions of the Surveyor General.

Marginal note:When surveys undertaken

25 The Minister shall cause surveys to be made of Canada Lands on the request of a minister of any department of the Government of Canada or a Commissioner administering the Lands and may do so in any other case in which he deems it to be expedient.

Marginal note:Who may survey Canada Lands

• 26 (1) Subject to subsection (2), no person other than a Canada Lands Surveyor shall survey Canada Lands.

• Marginal note:Who may survey Canada Lands within the boundaries of a province

  (2) A Canada Lands Surveyor or any other surveyor authorized by the Surveyor General may survey Canada Lands that lie within the boundaries of a province but, where surveys of those Canada Lands affect or are likely to affect the rights of landowners of adjoining lands that are not Canada Lands the surveys shall be made by a surveyor of the province in which those surveys are made.

Surveys

Marginal note:Minister may direct manner of survey

27 The Minister may direct that Canada Lands be surveyed, laid out and defined in any manner, by any method of surveying and with any description that the Minister considers desirable in the circumstances affecting those lands.

Marginal note:Coordinated Survey Area

• 28 (1) The Minister may establish a Coordinated Survey Area within any lands dealt with in this Act or alter any such Area by a notice published in the Canada Gazette.

• Marginal note:Position of monuments

  (2) Within a Coordinated Survey Area, the position of all new monuments placed and all monuments that are relevant to the placement of new monuments shall be determined by surveyed connection to reference points specified for that purpose and shall be expressed in terms of the system of coordinates specified for the Area, in accordance with the instructions of the Surveyor General.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (3) Within a Coordinated Survey Area, the position of all monuments placed prior to the establishment of the Area may be determined and shall be expressed in the manner described in subsection (2), in accordance with the instructions of the Surveyor General.

• Marginal note:Where position of monument is lost

  (4) Where the position of a monument that has been determined in accordance with this section is lost, the coordinates of the monument are, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof of its position.

Plans

Marginal note:Plotting of plans

• 29 (1) Plans of Canada Lands that are surveyed under this Part shall be plotted, under the direction of the Surveyor General, from the surveyor’s field notes and other documents relating to the survey.

• Marginal note:Content of plans

  (2) The direction and length of boundaries and the nature and position of the boundary monuments of the parcels of land laid out shall be shown on the plans.

• Marginal note:Confirmation

  (3) The Surveyor General shall indicate his confirmation on the plans, if he is satisfied that the survey has been carried out in conformity with this Act and that the survey and plans are satisfactory to the minister of the department of the Government of Canada or the Commissioner administering the Canada Lands in respect of which the survey was made.

• Marginal note:Effect of confirmation

  (4) On confirmation by the Surveyor General, the plans shall be deemed to be official plans under this Act.

• Marginal note:Confirmation of plans

  (5) No survey of Canada Lands under this Part shall be deemed to be completed until the plans thereof have been confirmed under this section.

• Marginal note:New plans to correct clerical errors, etc.

  (6) Where the Surveyor General finds that a plan that has been confirmed under this section has been improperly or incorrectly plotted from the surveyor’s field notes and other documents relating to the survey or that there is an omission, clerical error or other defect in the plan, the Surveyor General may cause a new plan to be plotted from the surveyor’s field notes and other documents relating to the survey or a new plan to be made correcting the omission, clerical error or other defect.

• Marginal note:Effect of new plan

  (7) The new plan referred to in subsection (6) shall, after confirmation thereof by the Surveyor General, be deemed to be the official plan under this Act of the lands thereby affected and shall be substituted for all, or corresponding portions of all, former official plans of the lands thereby affected.