Evolution of Alberta''s Petroleum And Natural Gas Land Regulations

Abstract

Introduction Mineral Owership Section 109 of the British North America Act gives jurisdiction over natural resources to the provinces, and consequently we have as many sets of regulations providing for administration of the mineral resources as we have provinces. In addition to provincial regulations, there are regulations for minerals owned and controlled by the federal government in the northern territories and offshore areas and the minerals owned by the Treaty Indians under lands south of 60° parallel N. Freehold Minerals Not all minerals in Canada are owned by governments, and a summary of the rights generally referred to as freehold minerals follows. Hudson"s Bay Lands In 1670, Charles II granted to the Hudson"s Bay Company all the lands draining into Hudson"s Bay. This grant amounted to some one and a half million square miles westerly from Hudson"s Bay in much of what is now Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories to the Rocky Mountains. Following federation in 1867, the new government of Canada undertook to acquire the territory granted to the Hudson"s Bay Company. In 1869, an agreement was signed pursuant to which the Hudson"s Bay Company surrendered all of its lands to Canada in consideration of:A payment of 300 thousand pounds sterling;The company retaining both surface and mineral rights at the company"s different trading posts and settlements, totaling about 45,000 acres;A grant of one-twentieth of the land (both surface and minerals) in what was referred to as the "Fertile Belt", an area described in the agreement as being bounded on the south by the United States, on the west by the Rocky Mountains, on the east by Lake Winnipeg, Lake of the Woods and the waters connecting them, and on the north by the North Saskatchewan River. These Hudson"s Bay lands are generally section 8 and 3/4 of section 26 in each township. As a result of this agreement, the people of Canada in 1869 owned 95 per cent of the surface and minerals in the "Fertile Belt" and the surface and minerals in the balance of the area. Railroad Lands To effect settlement of the West as quickly as possible and to provide a land link to the colony of British Columbia, land and minerals were granted to the railroad building companies. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company received a large area (including surface and minerals) along the right-of-way of its railway. Similar grants were made to smaller railways, some of which were subsequently taken over by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. In the four western provinces, approximately 3,500 miles of railway were constructed and some thirty million acres of both surface and minerals transferred to the different companies as subsidies. Homestead Lands Settlers acquiring homesteads obtained the minerals with the surface until October 31, 1887. After that date, the federal government excepted minerals when making land grants. All mines and minerals thereafter were reserved to the government when land was disposed of for some surface-related purpose.