Dominion Lands Policy

The administration of public lands in the three prairie provinces of the Canadian West was the most important activity of the federal government for sixty years after the acquisition of the region in 1870. Martin studies the policies devised by politicians and officials for the disposal of public lands, and the granting of concessions to individuals and business interests for exploiting the other natural resources of the area.

This book has three main components: A short essay on policy 1870-1930; Appendix I. ("A listing of land use regulations") a comprehensive listing of orders in council which defined land use regulations to 1930; and Appendix II ("Selected legislation") an arrangement of selected acts of Parliament and orders in council. Together these survey the main elements of federal policy regarding Crown lands.

Doctoral thesis. University of British Columbia. Traces the history, present setting and future course of land use in the NWT and the Yukon.

Most historians have given only incidental attention to the railway land subsidy policy of the Dominion of Canada. In breaking comparatively new ground Mr. Hedges has therefore depended to a large extent upon manuscript sources in the archives of the Department of the Interior at Ottawa. He traces the various steps leading to the adoption of the Canadian policy and discusses in detail its development in connection with the administration of the subsidy to the Canadian Pacific. In his final chapter he sets forth the broad outlines of the methods the railways pursued in the administration and disposition of their lands.

"On 1 November 1990, the government of Alberta enacted legislation to enable Metis ownership and government of Alberta's Metis settlement lands. This book explores the legislative history of the Metis settlements and constitutional issues arising from Alberta's initiative."--Cover.