Canadians - does this bother you?

I was surprised to find out that the Queen of England is the sole legal owner of all the land in Canada. She also owns almost all of Canada's rich resources of subsurface and mineral rights.

Canadians, does it bother you that "your" land in Canada is owned by another country?

Is it no big deal to you, or is it time for a revolution?

hmmm, what was your source?

I don't think the Queen of England owns the land in Canada???

Hmmm, I never heard of this.

It's a fact so it's easy enough to google:

land ownership in Canada
land tenure in Canada
crown land Canada
who owns Canadian land?

etc.

If you buy a house in Canada, you are not buying the land, it's called "land tenure" where you are borrowing it from the Queen.

It makes the housing bubble here look even more ridiculous (it takes 12 families' average incomes to buy one average house in Vancouver).

Guess I'm not the only one surprised to hear about this, but I'm a Texan, surely Canadians here know about it?

The Canada Act 1982 made Canada an independent country. The Queen is still head of state, but that is more of a figurative role than an actual one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Act_1982

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

The Canada Act 1982 made Canada an independent country. The Queen is still head of state, but that is more of a figurative role than an actual one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Act_1982

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Could you show me where the Canada Act 1982 states anything about land ownership in Canada? There is no amendment to that Act which changes who owns the land.

Who owns the world? (2007)

Cmon, if y'all hurry up and get organized by tomorrow, Canada and America can share the same Birthday!

WOOO!

Here in the Desert we have land that is owned by different Bands of Indian Tribes.

http://www.paulkaplanrealtor.com/FeeLandLeaseLand.php

In 1876, Pacific Railroad laid the tracks between Los Angeles and Yuma, Arizona. The U.S. government deeded the Agua Caliente 52,000 acres throughout the Coachella Valley (6,700 acres lay within the city of Palm Springs). The government gave the railroad a checkerboard of every square mile of land for 10 miles on either side of the railroad right-of-way. The Agua Caliente tribe got the non-Pacific Railroad owned squares. The city of Palm Springs is built on a "checkerboard" consisting of alternating Indian and non-Indian land. ...

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People buy homes on the Indian land - they own the structure, not the land.

Usually the Lease if for 99 years.

Recently there was news of a 20% price increase for leased land at the end of the lease term. Some folks were in the news talking about moving their homes to a Fee Simple property.

Of course if you own a condo I guess you'd have a problem.

The homes on Leased Land are worth less than the homes on Fee Simple Land.

Not owning the land seems to be an accepted way to own a home in many countries as well as the U.S.A. (Guess NOT in Texas, though. )

I'm guessing that this practice isn't a problem with the Canadians.

Some might say there is a distinction between a tribe leasing part of their territory where they live and an elderly woman overseas that claims its hers "because I'm me". Without a military that can actually back up that claim anymore by force of arms, I have no idea why its respected. I could just as easily say that I own Canada, but I would hope people would laugh at me and show me the boot.

One person out of 6,775,235,700 has no right to own one sixth of the world's land IMO.

Originally Posted by Ducman69

Cmon, if y'all hurry up and get organized by tomorrow, Canada and America can share the same Birthday!

WOOO!

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LOL! But I'm positive that idea would be very unpopular around here.

Originally Posted by Ducman69

Some might say there is a distinction between a tribe leasing part of their territory where they live and an elderly woman overseas that claims its hers "because I'm me". Without a military that can actually back up that claim anymore by force of arms, I have no idea why its respected. I could just as easily say that I own Canada, but I would hope people would laugh at me and show me the boot.

One person out of 6,775,235,700 has no right to own one sixth of the world's land IMO.

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Exactly.

There's a difference between having the option to lease or buy, and never being able to own. In Texas, land and mineral rights ownership is a huge deal; I'm having a tough time wrapping my head around the idea of being a citizen of a country in which you can never own any of the land. And your fellow citizens don't own any of it, either.

Well... It's Crown Land... Sure, she is the Queen now, but she can't really sell the land - it really belongs to the Monarchy, and it is passed from generation to the next - the next Queen/King. So I am not sure if I consider it "hers".

I'm not certain of course, but I think you may be mis-informed. There is certainly some Crown Land that one cannot buy and the leases are good for usually 99 years or some such thing, but there is privately owned land that folks can buy.

I'm sure there are some out there who are much better at finding out this information and will weigh in at some point. Personally I don't much care one way or the other. I've owned several homes and never had a worry about HRH taking over my house and land.

I rather like having the Queen as our Head of State and personally support the monarchy.

Originally Posted by Yosemite

I'm not certain of course, but I think you may be mis-informed. There is certainly some Crown Land that one cannot buy and the leases are good for usually 99 years or some such thing, but there is privately owned land that folks can buy.

I'm sure there are some out there who are much better at finding out this information and will weigh in at some point. Personally I don't much care one way or the other. I've owned several homes and never had a worry about HRH taking over my house and land.

I rather like having the Queen as our Head of State and personally support the monarchy.

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I read only about 10% is privately owned... The rest is Crown Land, Federal or Provincial...

Land that falls under "Crown Land" are Indian Reserves and Provincial Parks. I also believe the land the railroads sit on is also crown land.

But people can most certainly buy land in Canada. I was a paralegal and did up many, many sales and purchases of land. No where on the sales/purchase agreement did it indicate that the land is "land tenure."

When you buy a house on non-reserve land, that house is yours, and so is the land. However, any rights to the minerals found under that land do not belong to you. They do belong to the crown. The reason for that is to prevent monopolizing resources and hoarding by private citizens.

That being said, any land is subject to expropriation if the need arises. The government must pay fair market value for the land, either all or a piece in the case of a roadway needing to be expanded upon.

On Indian Reserves, people cannot own even the houses that are on the land. They live in them at zero cost to them.

In all territories owned by the Crown, including Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, the governments of those countries do not own the land of the country, but may and frequently do administer it on behalf of its owner, HM Elizabeth II. More significantly all forms of land possession in those territories are based, formally and in law, on the Crown's superior ownership. This is why the Land Registry in places like the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia cannot register land ownership, only tenure. This is also why freehold and leasehold are defined in law as forms of tenure, not ownership.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Cahill_(author)

Crown land is a designated area belonging to the Crown, the equivalent of an entailed estate that passed with the monarchy and could not be alienated from it.
http://crownland.askdefine.com/


The Queen is the sole legal owner of all the land of Canada. The private “holdership” factor, based on freehold tenure of housing is 67%. For all other land it is less than 9.7%, with over 90% of Canadian land remaining as Crown leasehold, administered for the Crown by various agencies and departments of the government of Canada…

All physical land in Canada is the property of the Crown, Queen Elisabeth 11. There is no provision in the Canada Act, or in the Constitution Act 1982 which amends it, for any Canadian to own any physical land in Canada. All that Canadians may hold, in conformity with medieval and feudal law, is “an interest in an estate in land in fee simple”. Land defined as ‘Crown land’ in Canada, and administered by the Federal Government and the Provinces, is merely land not ‘dedicated’ or assigned in freehold tenure. Freehold is tenure, not ownership. Freehold land is ‘held’ not ‘owned’.
http://www.whoownstheworld.com/canada/


Within Canada, Crown Land is a designated area belonging to the Crown, the equivalent of an entailed estate that passes with the monarchy and cannot not be alienated from it; thus, per constitutional convention, these lands cannot be unliaterally sold by the monarch, instead passing on to the next king or queen unless the sovereign is advised otherwise by the ministers of the Crown. Though the Canadian monarch owns all Crown Land in the country, paralleling the "division" of the Crown amongst the federal and provincial governments, Crown Land is similarly divided so that some lands within the province are administered by the provincial Crown, whereas others are under the federal Crown. About 89% of Canada's land area (8,886,356 km²) is Crown Land, which may either be federal (41%) or provincial (48%); the remaining 11% is privately-owned.
http://www.websters-dictionary-onlin...&sa=Search#922

Land ownership in Canada is held by governments, Native groups, corporations, and individuals… Since Canada uses primarily British-derived common law, the holders of the land actually have land tenure (permission to hold land from the Crown) rather than absolute ownership.
The majority of all lands in Canada are held by governments on behalf of the monarchy and are called Crown Lands.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_ownership_in_Canada

Within Canada, Crown Land is a designated area belonging to the Queen in Right of Canada,[5] the equivalent of an entailed estate that passes with the monarchy and cannot be alienated from it; thus, per constitutional convention, these lands cannot be unilaterally sold by the monarch, instead passing on to the next king or queen unless the sovereign is advised otherwise by the ministers of the Crown. Though the Canadian monarch owns all Crown Land in the country, paralleling the "division" of the Crown amongst the federal and provincial governments, Crown Land is similarly divied so that some lands within the province are administered by the provincial Crown, whereas others are under the federal Crown.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_land#Canada

I don't see much importance in it, really. It's not like the Queen is going to come and build her castle in my front yard. Even if she wanted to, I'd probably let her! Who else has a castle in their front yard?

Just seems like a legal technicality to me. I'm sure if you looked you could find many more oddities like that one.

Maybe you don't technically own the land, but you might as well. I'm sure if the goverment wanted to do something with your property in another country (ie. one that's not "owned" by the monarchy), it wouldn't make much difference whether you own or "tenure" it...they'd find a way to do what they want with it regardless.

Originally Posted by Carolina

I read only about 10% is privately owned... The rest is Crown Land, Federal or Provincial...

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That's not surprising given the population density of Canada. The vast majority of Canadians live in the southern part of the country. We have a whole lot of land with not many people living on it in the more northern parts. I bet the percentage of privately "owned" land would be much higher in the Southern portion of the country.

I guess it doesn't matter except that the Queen receives money from the rich natural resources from this country and our taxes - I feel all of that should go to benefit of the Canadian people. Having her own all of this country's land bothers me personally, but again, Texan.

(Scratch beneath the surface of that 10% "privately held" and you'll find the Queen owns that, too.)

Originally Posted by SwampWitch

I guess it doesn't matter except that the Queen receives money from the rich natural resources from this country and our taxes - I feel all of that should go to benefit of the Canadian people. Having her own all of this country's land bothers me personally, but again, Texan.

(Scratch beneath the surface of that 10% "privately held" and you'll find the Queen owns that, too.)

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You've done more research than me, so perhaps you'll know.

Your comments can't help but make me think of old stories or movies where people would find an oil deposit (or something) in their backyard and strike it rich from their oil earnings. I'm assuming this could happen in Canada, given the ownership issues? Would it actually happen in the US? If this were to happen in Canada, would it be the governement who was responsible for exploring the land and earning all that money? I can't imagine the Queen would really have much to do with that. Perhaps the monarchy gets royalties or something. I'm just guessing here.

I'd rather the government have control of our natural resources than individual property owners anyway, I think.

Originally Posted by zoeysmom

You've done more research than me, so perhaps you'll know.

Your comments can't help but make me think of old stories or movies where people would find an oil deposit (or something) in their backyard and strike it rich from their oil earnings. I'm assuming this could happen in Canada, given the ownership issues? Would it actually happen in the US? If this were to happen in Canada, would it be the governement who was responsible for exploring the land and earning all that money? I can't imagine the Queen would really have much to do with that. Perhaps the monarchy gets royalties or something. I'm just guessing here.

I'd rather the government have control of our natural resources than individual property owners anyway, I think.

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In the U.S., if you own the mineral rights to a property and an oil/gas company wants to drill there, they will offer to pay you (per acre) to lease your mineral rights to them for a stated length of time. They also pay you a royalty (percentage of profit from oil and/or gas extracted). The lease payments in Texas are usually in the 4-digits per acre but can be in the 5-digits per acre (as in the Eagle Ford Shale play going on right now) and the royalties can be up to 25% - all depends on what you negotiate with them.

Mineral rights trump surface rights in Texas law, but if you also own the surface rights you get paid to lease those, too.

In Canada, the Queen owns almost all the mineral rights, I don't know the details but I'd assume the oil companies make the same offers to lease/royalties to whomever owns the surface and mineral rights in whatever country they want to drill. In Canada, the oil companies would pay the owner - the Queen.

On a side note, a farmer or rancher who owns some mineral rights can get a HUGE boon to his income through leasing them and/or royalties. Imagine what even $1M can do for a farming family - when the governments get that $1M it is spent in a matter of seconds.