8. After the union, British Columbia shall comprise all the territories and islands aforesaid, and Vancouver Island and the islands adjacent thereto. 9. The Acts described in the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed; but this repeal shall not invalidate any Order in Council or other Instrument issued under the authority of those Acts or either of them, or any act done, or right or title acquired by virtue of those Acts, or of either of them, or of any such order or instrument. THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT, 1867. (Further Extract.) 146. It shall be lawful for the Queen, by and with the advice of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, on Addresses from the Houses of Parliament of Canada, and from the Houses of the respective Legislatures of the Colonies or Provinces of Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, and British Columbia, to admit those Colonies or Provinces, or any of them, into the Union, and on Address from the Houses of the Parliament of Canada, to admit Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory, or either of them, into the Union, on such terms and conditions, in each case, as are in the Addresses expressed, and as the Queen thinks fit to approve, subject to the Provisions of this Act; and the Provisions of any Order in Council in that behalf shall have effect as if they had been enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. THE RUPERT'S LAND ACT, 1868. AN ACT FOR ENABLING HER MAJESTY TO ACCEPT A Surrender, upON TERMS, OF THE LANDS, PRIVILEGES AND RIGHTS OF "THE GOVERNOR AND COMPANY OF ADVENTURERS OF ENGLAND TRADING INTO HUDSON'S BAY," AND FOR ADMITTING THE SAME INTO THE DOMINION OF CANADA.* [31st July, 1868.] WHEREAS by certain Letters Patent, granted by His late Majesty King Charles the Second, in the twenty-second year of His Reign, certain persons therein named were incorporated by the name of "The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay," and certain lands and territories, rights of government and other rights, privileges, liberties, franchises, powers and authorities, were thereby granted, or purported to be granted, to the said Governor and Company in His Majesty's Dominions in North America: And whereas by the British North America Act, 1867, it was (amongst other things) enacted that it should be lawful for Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, on address from the Houses of the Parliament of Canada, to admit Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory, or either of them, into the Union on such terms and conditions as are in the address expressed and as Her Majesty thinks fit to approve, subject to the provisions of the said Act: And whereas, for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of the said British North America Act, 1867, and of admitting Rupert's Land into the said Dominion as aforesaid, upon such terms as Her Majesty thinks fit to approve, it is expedient that the said lands, territories, rights, privileges, liberties, franchises, powers and authorities, so far as the same have been lawfully granted to the said Company, should be surrendered to Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon by and between Her Majesty and the said Governor and Company as hereinafter mentioned. Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the * Imperial Act, 31-2 Vict., c. 105. advice and consent of the Lords, Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1. This Act may be cited as "Rupert's Land Act, 1868." 2. For the purposes of this Act, the term "Rupert's Land" shall include the whole of the lands and territories held, or claimed to be held, by the said Governor and Company. 3. It shall be competent for the said Governor and Company to surrender to Her Majesty, and for Her Majesty, by any instrument under sign manual and signet, to accept a surrender of all or any of the lands, territories, rights, privileges, liberties, franchises, powers and authorities whatsoever, granted or purported to be granted by the said Letters Patent to the said Governor and Company, within Rupert's Land, upon such terms and conditions as shall be agreed upon, by and between Her Majesty and the said Governor and Company Provided, however, that such surrender shall not be accepted by Her Majesty until the terms and conditions upon which Rupert's Land shall be admitted into the said Dominion of Canada shall have been approved of by Her Majesty, and embodied in an Address to Her Majesty from both the Houses of the Parliament of Canada, in pursuance of the one hundred and forty-sixth section of the British North America Act, 1867; and that the said surrender and acceptance thereof shall be null and void, unless within a month from the date of such acceptance Her Majesty does, by Order in Council, under the provisions of the said last recited Act, admit Rupert's Land into the said Dominion Provided further that no charge shall be imposed by such terms upon the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom. 4. Upon the acceptance by Her Majesty of such surrender, all rights of government and proprietary rights, and all other privileges, liberties, franchises, powers and authorities whatsoever granted, or purported to be granted, by the said Letters Patent to the said Governor and Company, within Rupert's Land, and which shall have been so surrendered shall be absolutely extinguished: Provided that nothing herein contained shall prevent the said Governor and Company from continuing to carry on in Rupert's Land or elsewhere trade and commerce. 5. It shall be competent to Her Majesty, by any such Order or Orders in Council as aforesaid, on Address from the Houses of the Parliament of Canada, to declare that Rupert's Land shall, from a date to be therein mentioned, be admitted into and become part of the Dominion of Canada; and thereupon it shall be lawful for the Parliament of Canada, from the date aforesaid, to make, ordain and establish within the land and territory so admitted as aforesaid, all such laws, institutions and ordinances, and to constitute such courts and officers, as may be necessary for the peace, order, and good government of Her Majesty's subjects and others therein: Provided that until otherwise enacted by the said Parliament of Canada, all the powers, authorities, and jurisdiction of the several courts of justice now established in Rupert's Land, and of the several officers thereof, and of all magistrates and justices now acting within the said limits, shall continue in full force and effect therein. IMPERIAL ORDER IN COUNCIL RESPECTING RUPERT'S LAND AND THE NORTH-WESTERN TERRITORY, 1870.* At the Court at Windsor, the 23rd day of June, 1870. PRESENT: The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, Lord President, Lord Privy Seal, Mr. Gladstone. Bound with Statutes of Canada, 35 Vict., 1872, p. lxiii. The Schedules referred to are to be found in same place. Whereas by the "British America Act of 1867," it was, (amongst other things), enacted, that it should be lawful for the Queen, by and with the advice of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, on Address from the Houses of the Parliament of Canada, to admit Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory, or either of them, into the Union, on such terms and conditions, in each case, as should be in the Addresses expressed, and as the Queen should think fit to approve, subject to the provisions of the said Act: And it was further enacted that the provisions of any Order in Council in that behalf should have effect as if they had been enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: And whereas by an Address from the Houses of the Parliament of Canada, of which Address a copy is contained in the Schedule to this Ordor annexed, marked A, Her Majesty was prayed by and with the advice of Her Most Honourable Privy Council, to unite Rupert's Land and the North Western Territory with the Dominion of Canada, and to grant to the Parliament of Canada authority to legislate for their future welfare and good government, upon the terms and conditions therein stated: And whereas by the "Rupert's Land Act, 1868," it was (amongst other things) enacted, that it should be competent for the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay, (hereinafter called the Company), to surrender to Her Majesty, and for Her Majesty, by any instrument under her sign manual, and signet, to accept a surrender of all or any of the lands, territories, rights, privileges, liberties, franchises, powers, and authorities whatsoever, granted, or purported to be granted, by certain Letters Patent, therein recited, to the said Company, within Rupert's Land, upon such terms and conditions as should be agreed upon by and between Her Majesty and the said Company provided, however, that such surrender should not be accepted by Her Majesty until the terms and conditions upon which Rupert's Land should be admitted into the said Dominion of Canada should have been approved of by Her Majesty and embodied in an Address to Her Majesty from both the Houses of the Parliament of Canada in pursuance of the 146th section of the "British North America Act, 1867": And it was, by the same Act, further enacted, that it should be competent to Her Majesty, by Order or Orders in Council, on Addresses from the Houses of the Parliament of Canada, to declare that Rupert's Land should, from a date to be therein mentioned, be admitted into, and become part of the Dominion of Canada. And whereas a second Address from both the Houses of Parliament of Canada has been received by Her Majesty, praying that Her Majesty will be pleased under the provisions of the herein before recited Acts, to unite Rupert's Land, on the terms and conditions expressed in certain resolutions therein referred to, and approved of by Her Majesty, of which said resolutions and addresses copies are contained in the schedule to this Order annexed, marked B, and also to unite the North-Western Territory with the Dominion of Canada, as prayed for by, and on the terms and conditions contained in the herein before first recited address, and also approved of by Her Majesty : And whereas a draft surrender has been submitted to the Governor-General of Canada, containing stipulations to the following effect, viz: 1. The sum of £300,000 (being the sum hereinafter mentioned), shall be paid by the Canadian Government into the Bank of England to the credit of the Company within six calendar months after acceptance of the surrender aforesaid, with interest on the said sum at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum, computed from the date of such acceptance until the time of such payment. 2. The size of the blocks which the Company are to select adjoining each of their forts in the Red River limits, shall be as follows: Acres. Upper Fort Garry and Town of Winnipeg, including the enclosed park 500 ............ 500 White Horse Plain.. 500 3. The deduction to be made as hereinafter mentioned from the price of the materials of the electric telegraph in respect of deterioration thereof, is to be certified within three calendar months from such acceptance as aforesaid by the Agents of the Company in charge of the depots where the materials are stored, and the said price is to be paid by the Canadian Government into the Bank of England, to the credit of the Company, within six calendar months of such acceptance, with intcrest at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum on the amount of such price, computed from the date of such acceptance until the time of payment. And whereas the said draft was on the fifth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, approved by the said Governor-General, in accordance with a report from the Committee of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada; but it was not expedient that the said stipulations, not being contained in the aforesaid second address, should be included in the surrender by the said Company to Her Majesty of their rights aforesaid, or in this Order in Council; And whereas the said Company did by deed, under the seal of the said Company, and bearing date the nineteenth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and sixtynine, of which deed a copy is contained in the schedule to this Order, annexed marked C, surrender to Her Majesty all the rights of government, and other rights, privileges, liberties, franchises, powers, and authorities granted, or purported to be granted to the said Company by the said Letters Patent herein and herein before referred to, and also all simflar rights which may have been exercised or assumed by the said Company in any part of British North America not forming part of Rupert's Land, or of Canada, or of British Columbia, and all the lands and territories (except and subject as in the terms and conditions therein mentioned) granted or purported to be granted to the said Company by the said Letters Patent; And whereas such surrender has been duly accepted by Her Majesty, by an instrument under her sign manuel and signet, bearing date at Windsor the twenty-second day of June, one thousand eight hundred and seventy: It is hereby ordered and declared by Her Majesty, by and with the advice of the Privy Council, in pursuance and exercise of the powers vested in Her Majesty by the said Acts of Parliament, that from and after the fifteenth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy, the said North-Western Territory shall be admitted into and become part of the Dominion of Canada upon the terms and conditions set forth in the first hereinbefore recited address, and that the Parliament of Canada shall from the day aforesaid have full power and authority to legislate for the future welfare and good government of the said Territory. And it is further ordered that without prejudice to any obligations arising from the aforesaid approved report, Rupert's Land shall, from and after the said date, be admitted into and become part of the Dominion of Canada, upon the following terms and conditions, being the terms and conditions still remaining to be performed of those embodied in the said second address of the Parliament of Canada, and approved of by Her Majesty as aforesaid : 1. Canada is to pay to the Company £300,000 when Rupert's land is transferred to the Dominion of Canada. 2. The Company are to retain the posts they actually occupy in the North-Western Territory, and may within twelve months of the surrender select a block of land adjoining each of its posts within any part of British North America, not comprised in Canada and British Columbia, in conformity, except as regards the Red River Territory, with a list made out by the Company and communicated to the Canadian Ministers, being the list in the schedule of the aforesaid deed of surrender. The actual survey is to be proceeded with with all convenient speed. 3. The size of each block is not to exceed [10] acres round upper Fort Garry, [300] acres round lower Fort Garry; in the rest of the Red River Territory a number of acres to be settled at once between the Governor in Council and the Company, but so that the aggregate extent of the blocks is not to exceed 50,000 acres. 4. So far as the configuration of the country admits the blocks shall front the river or road by which means of access are provided, and shall be approximately in the shape of parallelograms, of which the frontage shall not be more than half the depth. 5. The Company may, for fifty years after the surrender, claim in any township or district within the Fertile Belt, in which land is set out for settlement, grants of land not xceeding one-twentieth part of the land so set out. The blocks so granted to be determined by lot, and the Company to pay a rateable share of the survey expenses, not ex ceeding eight cents, Canadian, an acre. The Company may defer the exercise of their right of claiming the proportion of each township for not more than ten years after it is set out, but their claim must be limited to an allotment from the lands remaining unsold at the time they declare their intention to make it. 6. For the purpose of the last Article the Fertile Belt is to be bounded as follows:On the south by the United States boundary; on the west by Rocky Mountains; on the north by the northern branch of the Saskatchewan; on the east by Lake Winnipeg, the Lake of the Woods, and the waters connecting them. 7. If any township shall be formed abutting on the north bank of the northern branch of the Saskatchewan River, the Company may take their one-twentieth of any such township, which for the purpose of this article shall not extend more than five miles inland from the river, giving to the Canadian Dominion an equal quantity of the portion of lands coming to them of townships established on the southern bank. 8. In laying out any public roads, canals, &c., through any block of land reserved to the Company, the Canadian Government may take, without compensation, such land as is necessary for the purpose, not exceeding one-twenty-fifth of the total acreage of the block, but if the Canadian Government require any land which is actually under cultivation, or which has been built upon, or which is necessary for giving the Company's servants access to any river or lake, or as a frontage to any river or lake, they shall pay to the Company the fair value of the same, and shall make compensation for any injury done to the Company or their servants. 9. It is understood that the whole of the land to be appropriated, within the meaning of the last preceding clause, shall be appropriated for public purposes. 10. All titles to land up to the eighth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, conferred by the Company, are to be confirmed. 11. The Company is to be at liberty to carry on its trade without hindrance in its corporate capacity, and, no exceptional tax is to be placed on the Company's land, trade, or servants, nor any import duties on goods introduced by them previous to the surrender. 12. Canada is to take over the materials of the electric telegraph at cost price, such price including transport but not including interest for money, and subject to a deduction for ascertained deterioration. 13. The Company's claim to land, under agreements of Messrs. Vankoughnet and Hopkins, is to be withdrawn. 14. Any claims of Indians to compensation, for lands required for purposes of settlement, shall be disposed of by the Canadian Government, in communication with the Imperial Government, and the Company shall be relieved of all responsibility in respect of them. 15. The Governor in Council is authorized and empowered to arrange any details that may be necessary to carry out the above terms and conditiors. And the Right Honourable Earl Granville, one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, is to give the necessary directions herein accordingly. ACT CREATING THE DISTRICT OF KEEWATIN, 1876. AN ACT RESPECTING THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORIES AND TO CREATE A SEPARATE TER* RITORY OUT OF PART THEREOF. Whereas it is expedient, pending the settlement of the western boundary of Ontario, to create a separate Territory of the Eastern part of the North-West Territories: Therefore Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: 1. All that portion of the North-West Territories, bounded as follows, that is to say: Beginning at the westerly boundary of the Province of Ontario, on the international boundary line dividing Canada from the United States of America; then westerly, following *39 Vic. chap. 21 (1876, Dom.) |