[1] Most federally administered land is in the Canadian territories (Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon), and is administered on behalf of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada; only 4% of land in the provinces is federally controlled, largely in the form of National Parks, Indian reserves, or Canadian Forces bases.
Until the Natural Resources Acts of 1930 the prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, and to a limited extent British Columbia, did not control Crown lands or subsoil rights within their boundaries, which instead rested with the federal government.
In Western Canada, where the American-influenced Dominion Land Survey was used, geographical features were largely ignored in favour of geometric standardization, with larger lots.
In Canadian law all lands are subject to the Crown, and this has been true since Britain acquired much of Eastern Canada from France by the Treaty of Paris (1763).
However, the British and Canadian authorities recognized that indigenous peoples already on the lands had a prior claim, aboriginal title, which was not extinguished by the arrival of the Europeans.
This is in direct contrast to the situation in Australia where the continent was declared terra nullius, or vacant land, and was seized from Aboriginal peoples without compensation.
In consequence, all of Canada, save a section of southern Quebec exempted by the Royal Proclamation of 1763, is subject to Aboriginal title.
Settlers paid a $10 fee and agreed to make some improvements within a specified time for 160 acres (65 ha), commonly known as a quarter section, of land.
This was at a time of extreme land shortage in many agricultural areas of Europe, and aided in the rapid settlement of Western Canada.
At the same time, major land reforms were underway in Prince Edward Island to end the practice of absentee landlordism, which locals felt exploited them.
The Government of Canada agreed to provide the Island with an $800,000 fund to purchase the remaining absentee landlord's estates as part of negotiations that brought PEI into Confederation.
[13] Canada may be considered distinct from the few large landed estates and masses of tenant farmers typical of Old World and Latin American countries that have not enacted land reforms, the communal and state ownership typical of Communist countries, or the small-holdings in those parts of Europe and Latin America where the estates were broken up.
This along with the phasing out of national passenger rail on the lines that serviced these areas has led to the near abandonment of many small rural towns across these regions with both a detrimental impact to the local economy and landscape.
A recent trend toward greenbelt housing, cottages, acreages, and hobby farms has been fueled by an abundance of jobs in the oil & gas sector, speculation due to a rise of agricultural GDP in recent years and the cost of urban real estate that may in cases justify daily commuting to nearby cities particularly with the reintroduction of passenger rail as well as other modes of public transit.