The following was posted on the Upper Canada Land Titles and Patent Research Facebook page by Joan Olech.
The purpose of our court challenge is to determine the legality of the woodlot/tree bylaw on private real property in the Region of Niagara.
Much of the real property in Southern Ontario was granted by the Sovereign of the Crown prior to Confederation. The Crown granted all right, title and interest to the land and its incidents, subject only to those rights or interests reserved for the Crown. That was the intent of the Sovereign! Some of the trees were reserved at the time of the grant, making them available for public use, most particularly ship building. But all tree reservations for granted lands in Ontario were released, as per the public lands act, at April 1st, 1869, s. 58, 3, and later confirmed by the provincial legislature. www.ontario.ca/page/release-and-voidance-restrictions-land-grants
So how is it that the municipality/region is now claiming an interest in the trees on private, patented land? And the bigger question becomes to what limitation? If we allow them to control our trees, trees being incidents of the land, what other incidents of our land can also come under their control? Our crops? Our homes?
The tree bylaw may seem trivial, but in fact it’s critical to understanding what the grant intended, what the patent clearly detailed for all to read, within our Constitutional Monarchy. And the Real Property Limitations Act, S. 3, is clear in that come 60 years post patent, (Nullum Tempus), the Crown is bound by its grants!
So again, I have to ask to what limitation is the municipal government adhering, if through bylaw, they can override the will of the Sovereign in granting its land and incidents of land to us, the heirs and assigns of the original grantees?
The regulation of trees against the rights of the lawful owners is not Constitutional! And if bylaw overrides our Constitution, then our Constitution has failed!
We have a court date of June 5 at the Ontario Court of Appeals, but to date neither the Attorney General for the Province nor the Attorney General for the Dominion has stepped in to uphold our Constitution and our rights that are constitutionally protected.
Note: If you would like to donate to this project, make your Cheque payable to:
UPPER CANADA LAND TITLES AND PATENT RESEARCH INITIATIVE
And mail it to:
Ms. Erika Furney
118 Colbeck Drive
Welland, ON
L3C 7B2