Introduction

• Author: Elaine L. Hughes, Arlene J. Kwasniak, Alastair R. Lucas
• Pages: 1-6

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INTRODUCTION

A. ABOUT THE SUBJECT, ITS CRITICAL

IMPORTANCE, AND THE UNDERTAKING

Canada has been def‌ined and shaped by its “Crown” or public lands

and public resources. Most of the surface land in Canada, subject to

Aboriginal rights, is owned by the federal, provincial, or territorial gov-

ernments. These governments also own, subject to Aboriginal rights,

the diverse resources within Crown lands, and a variety of resources,

whether they occur within or outside of Crown surface land. Depending

on specif‌ic jurisdictions and circumstances, Crown resources include

subsurface mines or minerals; water and rights to use water; wildlife;

f‌ish; beds and shores of rivers; lakes and other water bodies; offshore

and seabed areas; and public land forests, soil, vegetation, and eco-

systems. Crown, or public, lands (used interchangeably in this book)

and resources contain our past, present, and future wealth in the form

of natural, economic, heritage, and recreational resources and def‌ine

and ref‌lect our history and identity. Indeed, “wealth” is truly what

these resources represent, from the days of the fur trade to today’s oil

sands, and the expanding network of public land protected areas.

The need for conservation of these resources i s a long-standing issue.

Nineteenth century resource extinctions and depletions in wildlife

populations, such as bison and whales, spurred early laws, yet through-

out the twentieth century resources continued to become signif‌icantly

depleted from their historic levels (e.g., timber, f‌isheries). Even as re-

source legislation moved to regulate rates of resource use, other kinds