P-38 - Settlers Protection Act

Updated to 1 April 1999

This document has official status.

chapter P-38

Settlers Protection Act

Repealed, 1982, c. 13, s. 68.

1982, c. 13, s. 68.

1. No public lands granted to a bona fide settler by instruments in the form of location tickets, occupation licenses or sale or other titles of a similar nature or to the same effect, in virtue of the law, and according to the orders-in-council and regulations passed in virtue thereof, as well as the improvements made, the buildings erected and the expenses incurred by such settlers, shall, so long as letters patent are not issued therefor, be pledged or hypothecated by judgment or otherwise, or be liable to seizure or execution for any debt whatsoever, except for the price of such lands, the payment of municipal or school taxes, costs of road work and assessments for the building of churches, parsonages or cemeteries, the whole notwithstanding articles 1980 and 1981 of the Civil Code, and articles 569 and 572 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

R. S. 1964, c. 106, s. 1; 1965 (1st sess.), c. 80, a. 1.

2. Nevertheless, such right of exemption from seizure and execution shall not extend beyond six years from the date of the location ticket, occupation license, certificate of sale or other similar title as aforesaid.

R. S. 1964, c. 106, s. 2.

3. Every grantee of public lands in Québec who acquires the same by location ticket, occupation license, certificate of sale or other similar title, issued in his name or in the name of another person of whom he has become the grantee, assignee or legal representative, may, during the three months next after the issue of his letters patent, select a certain number of acres of such land, not exceeding one hundred, as his homestead.

So soon as he has made a solemn declaration of such selection, according to form 1, and such declaration has been acknowledged, in accordance with the Canada Evidence Act (Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970, chapter E-10), and has been registered by deposit, within the said three months, in the registry office for the registration division of the place where such property is situated, the land so selected as a homestead, with the buildings and appurtenances thereon erected, and so long as they shall remain in the possession of such grantee or assignee, or in the possession of his surviving spouse or children, his heirs, legatees or donees, as well as every right, title and interest they may have therein, shall, notwithstanding articles 1980 and 1981 of the Civil Code and articles 569 and 572 of the Code of Civil Procedure, be exempt from seizure and execution, during the fifteen years next after the date of the registration of such declaration, for the payment of debts contracted, either before or during such period, unless it be for the price of such lands or for the extinction of the lawful charges and hypothecs for which they themselves have pledged the property after the issue of such letters patent.

Upon receipt of such declaration and upon payment of a fee of fifty cents, the registrar shall register such declaration and furnish, upon payment of a similar fee of fifty cents, to the grantee or assignee or his representatives as aforesaid, a certificate in accordance with form 2, which certificate shall be valid before all courts.

R. S. 1964, c. 106, s. 3; 1965 (1st sess.), c. 80, a. 1; 1982, c. 17, s. 69.

4. Without prejudice to articles 552 and following of the Code of Civil Procedure, the moveables and effects hereinafter enumerated, whether they be in the possession of a bona fide settler, as described in section 1, or in the possession of his surviving spouse, or of his or their children or descendants in the direct line, shall, so long as the party upon whom the seizure is made is owner of the land in virtue of the said section, be exempt from seizure and execution for any debt whatsoever except for the payment of the taxes, charges and dues mentioned in section 1, from the date of the grant of such land and during fifteen years from the issue of the letters patent, to wit:

(1)  The beds, bedding and bedsteads in ordinary use by his family;

(2)  The necessary and ordinary wearing apparel of himself and his family;

(3)  One stove and pipes, one crane and its appendages, one pair of andirons, one set of cooking utensils, one pair of tongs and a shovel, one table, six chairs, six knives, six spoons, six forks, six plates, six tea-cups, six saucers, one sugar-basin, one milk-jug, one tea-pot, all spinning-wheels and weaving-looms in domestic use, one axe, one saw, one gun, six traps, and such fishing nets and seines as are in common use, and ten volumes of books;

(4)  All necessary fuel, meat, fish, flour and vegetables sufficient for him and his family for three months;

(5)  Seed grain necessary to sow his land;

(6)  Two draught horses or two draught oxen, ten other head of horned cattle, six sheep, five pigs, all the poultry, and the grain and other forage intended for the support or fattening of such animals and poultry;

(7)  Farm vehicles and implements of agriculture;

(8)  The building materials intended to be employed in the construction of or repairs or improvements to the buildings and mills on his land.

The debtor may select the chattels mentioned in paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 from any larger number of the same kind.

The chattels mentioned in paragraphs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of this section shall not be exempt from seizure and execution for the purchase price thereof or if they have been pledged or pawned.

R. S. 1964, c. 106, s. 4; 1965 (1st sess.), c. 80, a. 1; 1974, c. 79, s. 6; 1982, c. 17, s. 70.

5. If a settler has occupied Crown lands for more than five years before the issue of the letters patent, the excess over such five years shall be deducted from the fifteen years’ exemption mentioned in section 4.

R. S. 1964, c. 106, s. 5.

6. The owner of a homestead and of public lands in virtue of sections 1 and 3 shall have the right to alienate the same by gratuitous or by onerous title, even without the consent of his consort expressed in a notarial deed.

R. S. 1964, c. 106, s. 6.

7. Nothing in this act shall exempt a lot on Crown lands occupied under a location-ticket from the payment of municipal or school taxes or assessments for church purposes.

R. S. 1964, c. 106, s. 7.

8. This act shall apply to fishermen who are also settlers.

R. S. 1964, c. 106, s. 8.

9. This Act shall operate notwithstanding the provisions of sections 2 and 7 to 15 of the Constitution Act, 1982 (Schedule B of the Canada Act, chapter 11 in the 1982 volume of the Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom).

1982, c. 21, s. 1.

REPEAL SCHEDULE

In accordance with section 17 of the Act respecting the consolidation of the statutes (chapter R-3), chapter 106 of the Revised Statutes, 1964, in force on 31 December 1977, is repealed effective from the coming into force of chapter P-38 of the Revised Statutes.