OLA argues land patents supersede all legislation
July 22, 2010
By: The Eganville Leader
Smart metres, water metres, land appropriation, forced re-zoning, amalgamation, municipal plans, the Mineral and Aggregate Act, Toronto’s Greenbelt,unwanted access to your property by any ministry or official for any reason other than serious crime, the Endangered Species Act and basically any legislation that may impact land ownership rights could be completely moot and some would suggest outright illegal in the eyes of the Supreme Court of Canada so long as you hold a Crown Land Patent Grant.
“David Onley should be fired immediately, Dalton McGuinty should be in jail; Bill Blair should be in jail,” Ontario Landowner Association (OLA) Secretary and lead researcher Liz Marshall told members of the Renfrew County branch at Eganville’s Sno-Drifters’ Club during their quarterly meeting last Wednesday night, referring to the G-8 and 20 summits as a specifi c example of how the OLA feels government has ignored its people’s rights. “They have all undermined our constitutional rights to the eighth degree.”
Although targeting the powers of the day, she explained the Crown Land Patent Grants (CLPG) and their powers of “forever” date back centuries in many cases, to the original land deals between settlers and the Crown. She said they were hidden away from the public in the 1950s and again only briefl y identifi ed in a 1992 act, stating they remain “esoteric” (secret) ever since by every level of government, municipal, provincial and federal. Ms. Marshall said they’ve been squirreled away from the public for so long, most ministers, lawyers and government officials don’t even realize the documents exist or the powers they possess. The ones that do, she said “are terrified; this will get very expensive for them; they can’t afford it, I know that.”
She said the OLA intends to increase that knowledge amongst landowners with meetings and a public awareness campaign like the one held in Eganville last week. They also suggest any property owner go about getting theirs immediately through the Ministry of Natural Resources offi ces in Peterborough to post on their land, instituting the protection they provide. The issue of Crown Land Patent Grants and their apparently infallible powers was introduced to a full house of OLA members by the local county branch President, Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards Councillor Stanley Pecoskie. In sweltering heat, he thanked an unusually large crowd for a quarterly meeting for attending, warning all the issue to be discussed could be one of the most important ever in the eyes of the OLA membership. “We’re trying to correct a few things that have been chewing away our belongings for many years,” Mr. Pecoskie said. “It seems we’ve lost a lot of rights here since our ancestors fi rst came here and I don’t think it was supposed to be this way.”
Handing the fl oor over to OLA member and CFRA radio host Nick Vandergraat, who has been covering the issue extensively the last few weeks, he spoke briefl y about why the OLA believes the issue is so important. “It is the single most important legal document you can own; I cannot stress that enough,” he said. “One of the reasons for that is, in the document it uses one word that no legislator, no authority in the country, including the Supreme Court can get around and that word is ‘forever’. We haven’t run out of it yet and until we do there’s nothing they can do about it. “No matter what party is involved…no matter who is running a municipality, they are not going to like this,” he added, saying anyone who has land appropriated anywhere, such as residents and farmers living in the Greenbelt near Ottawa or Toronto, will be able to get their land back, or, in the case it cannot be returned, must be compensated at fair market value and potentially any lost revenue the land may have provided to the original owner since appropriation. “This is going to get expensive, but it’s the only way we can make the province and the federal-ees sit up and pay attention to the fact they have been trodding on landowners’ rights, basically since before
confederation and that we’ve fi nally had enough and they won’t be able to get away with it anymore; whether it’s a mayor, a minister, a provincial politician, a premiere or the prime minister; none of that is going to matter.”He explained originally, land belonged to the Crown essentially everywhere in the country (whatever the borders may have been at the time the land was transferred).
In order for land ownership transfer to the settlers, the Crown had to grant said land through the negotiated land patents. “When they granted that land, they included the rights (in the document in writing),” he said. “In there, they had their rights enshrined and that nasty little word ‘forever’ is what’s gott’em on a hook and there’s no amount of wrigglin’ (out of it).” Ms. Marshall, who pointed out “I am not a lawyer; this is not legal advice,” said regardless, the CLPGs point out in black and white exactly what the boundaries of any given property are, what the Crown may have access to, what they do not and as proven in court already, supersede any legislation since their drafting.
“Land patent grants are the original contracts between the Crown and the original settlers, their heirs and assigns forever; you are either the heirs or the assigns of those patentees (as landowners),” she said. “Those (CLPGs) grant you your rights; your water rights, your mineral rights, your right to tell the MNR, the bylaw offi cers, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera this is my land, get off. “I am not just saying this as a sermon; this is absolute solid, 100 per cent concrete,” she said, referring to several court cases spanning about 100 years. “These documents overrule orders in council, they overrule legislation, they overrule just about everything. All legislation is, is a thought, a whim or an idea.” She explained the farce of legislation is that it is created by the ideals of the people in charge and a result of the time they are created, easily reneged when another party or person gets another idea “or whim.” “They put it on paper and they think it’s a real law; and that’s what we are being ruined by, legislation that is a thought, a whim, an idea,” she added. “It doesn’t have to be constitutional, don’t ever think that any piece of any legislation has to follow any rules, it does not.” She said one such piece of legislation was in 1950 under the Lands Grant Act, where, she said, the proof and power of the original land grants was buried in the wording. That was challenged in the Superior Court of Ontario by a group of residents who all shared a private section of beach that was frequently trespassed upon by the public. The township decided it would attempt to appropriate the beach section, creating a development plan to do so, from the property owners to create public land. But the residents each secured their CLPGs, which all proved ownership to the waterfront and court ruled in favour of the private landowners. “(The township) could not plan for those beaches, they didn’t own it; if you don’t own it you can’t plan for it,” she said. “All of these plans, they may work on Crown land, they may work on public land, but when it comes to your land, you are the only one that actually has a plan and that’s your survey, registered against your title.
“And your title goes all the way back to the Crown Land Patent Grants because the (grants) are your root of title,” she added, warning that one way the grants have been hidden was altering the law so lawyers only had to go back 40 years in a title search for property purchase. “You in fact may not even be able to have the land that you have because they have not done a complete search from you to the (CLPG).” She told all in attendance they should go about securing their offi cial, certifi ed copy of the CLPG at a small cost to ensure they know their full rights and exactly what they own and what, if anything, the government may have access to.
“It will tell you whether you do or you do not own your water, if you have navigable water ways, whether you do or do not own your beaches, it will tell you whether you own your mineral lights…it won’t even have your name on it, it will be the original patentees’,” she explained. She said in other court cases that landed at the federal Supreme Court, the rulings were “it clearly states council cannot overrule the reservations or the guarantees of the (CLPGs),” and that the municipalities, province or federal government has no authority to create legislation that would overrule the patents. “It’s up to you folks to get your patents and start standing up for and understanding your own rights; when people come on to your land that are offi cials from the municipality or the MNR or whatever, if they are coming there to tell you…‘I’m the bylaw inspector, you can’t paint your trim pink,’ you can say ‘get off my land, you have no right or authority; I have a contract with the Crown, what do you have…get off my land’. “You have the right to tell anyone and everyone to get off your land unless you have committed a criminal offence,” she added, so long as the landowner physically has a certifi ed copy of the CLPG, which should be posted and visible.
Metering Private Wells
She said it is even more crucial right now that property owners, regardless of the size of property, get theirs now. Ms. Marshall said she has read new provincial legislation coming out that identifi es the government’s desire to put water metres on private wells. “They already have their source water committees looking at metering wells, private, individual wells,” she said, again warning that depending on what the original negotiation was, the CLPG could say that the Crown has the right to the water, and in that case, there will be little power to stop a meter going on the well. However, if the CLPG does not clearly identify the reservation of water rights to the Crown, she said the property owner has every right to deny entry, even to enact a citizen’s arrest for trespassing against the offi cial. She said the CLPGs outweigh any legislation that may impact a person’s property and under common law, identify that no person shall pollute, block or alter the fl ow of neighbour’s water, air or land, so environmental protection is already built in, requiring no additional water or species protection acts. “These patents are your rights, they are your responsibilities and they are your good-neighbour paper,” Ms. Marshall said. “You have the authority; these things are also a lot of responsibility, you cannot just go hog wild, it is set in common law.” She said it is a powerful tool that could shatter many of the current systems in the country, thus the fear from all levels of government. Ms. Marshall suggested farmers and people in the greenbelts, who had sever limitations put on their ability to develop or use their lands as they see fit, could be due all their appropriated lands back or financial compensation. She referred to another successful court case of an elderly gentleman in Petawawa, where the local council wished to alter the zoning of his land from rural residential to mineral aggregate against his wishes. Using his land patent grant, that was quashed. The documents have also been used to stop governments from taking over private land mineral rights and she said could overrule --in favour of the original landowners -- any international, national or provincial heritage sites, UNESCO sites and formed marsh lands. She said it could throw wrenches into many municipal plans and systems, including water treatment systems and the municipal water act that places people in urban areas on one system. She said under the CLPGs, that is an unnecessary infringement of rights.
De-amalgamation Committee Being Formed
She even suggested the amalgamations of 2000 were illegal, based on those CLPGs and the OLA has created a “de-amalgamation committee”. “We think that’s illegal,” she said, explaining amalgamation altered the original patented township boundaries and ignores the original CLPG property identifi cations.
Tom Kennedy said on Fri 30th Jul, 2010 at 16:04:
There never was a "Crown Land Grant Patent". If you are going to argue the point, get your history and facts correct. You first received a written grant,a location ticket, then a surveyor's instruction, and when settlement duties had been completed( if not done the Grant could be cancelled),paid the fees,you received the Crown Grant document. While it gave you "fee simple" possession of the stated land,all the Crown Grant documents I have seen,retain all white pines for the Royal Navy,and specifically retain a long list of minerals for the Crown.Crown Ripian rights are not changed. I have few of my family,and have seen enough other original documents to see,while passionate, your stance is on quicksand,not solid ground.
David Kautzman said on Sun 1st Aug, 2010 at 14:26:
Sources would be excellent :) If at all possible. Thank you, David
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