HOME > SURVEYOR GENERAL DIVISION

NEW - FEES EFFECTIVE APRIL 01, 2007

Welcome to the Surveyor General Division

The Core Business of the Surveyor General Division includes:

•	responsibility for the quality and integrity of the survey structure of British Columbia which provides fundamental support to the economic and social fabric;
•	being a centre of excellence for quality and timely service for: the provision of expertise on the survey structure and cadastral fabric, Crown grant conveyancing for the disposition of Crown land in fee simple and provision of records and research material; and
•	being a leader and partner in the development of regulations, standards and specifications for surveys and parcel structure in British Columbia.

The mandate of the Surveyor General Division is to:

•	manage the cadastral survey structure of British Columbia;
•	manage all surveys of Crown lands under the authority of the Land Act;
•	manage the statutory obligations imposed by legislation;
•	provide professional guidance on survey issues to government and the public;
•	maintain the inter-provincial boundaries of the province as part of a tripartite Boundary Commission;
•	prepare and provide Crown grants and required documentation to support the disposition of Crown land leading to registration in fee simple; and
•	provide copies of survey plans, field notes, historical survey records, Crown grant documents and reference maps in hard copy and electronic formats.

The Surveyor General Division has three distinct business areas:

•	Surveyor General Services;
•	Crown Grant Services; and
•	Records Distribution Services.

1. Manage the cadastral survey structure of British Columbia by:
   

   •	providing parcel designations to land surveyors for surveys of Crown land;
   •	providing guidance on the maintenance and creation of general survey instruction rules to the Association of British Columbia Land Surveyors;
   •	providing circular letters to all British Columbia Land Surveyors on changes to statutes, regulations and items of interest in a timely manner; and
   •	providing professional support on survey issues to the Land Title Office.

2. Manage all surveys of Crown lands under the authority of the
   Land Act by:
   

   •	responding to questions or concerns regarding surveys of Crown land;
   •	reviewing all plans prepared for the surveys of Crown land for accuracy and completeness; and
   •	confirming all plans and filing them in the Crown Land Registry.

3. Manage the statutory obligations imposed by legislation by:
   

   •	maintaining the integrated survey area program;
   •	reviewing and adjudicating changes to natural boundaries in order to maintain accurate titles within the Land Title Office;
   •	adjudicating requests by developers to provide subdivisions with deferred monumentation for the protection of the cadastral fabric;
   •	adjudicating requests for modified or deferred monumentation for surveys within the E & N land grant;
   •	adjudicating requests for agreed boundaries adjacent to Crown lands;
   •	adjudicating designations and confirming official plans of Provincial Parks;
   •	cancelling Crown titles from the Land Title Office when required; and
   •	designating corporate bodies or the public to hold statutory rights of way or covenants over lands registered in the Land Title Office.

4. Provide professional guidance on survey issues to government and
   the public by:
   

   •	providing assistance in the negotiation of treaty settlements with First Nations;
   •	providing assistance to ministries and the public on an as needed basis to resolve issues with their property holdings;
   •	researching historical records to report on the accuracy of land transactions;
   •	assisting the Ministry of Transportation with the transfer of provincial Crown lands and federal lands; and
   •	providing resources for educational needs on survey issues.

5. Maintain the inter-provincial boundaries of the province as part of a tripartite Boundary Commission by:
   

   •	meeting with Boundary Commissioners from adjacent provinces and the federal government to discuss any issues relating to the provincial boundaries;
   •	providing instructions to land surveyors performing surveys of the provincial boundaries; and
   •	reviewing and registering the results of surveys of provincial boundaries.

Surveyor General Appointments:

•	appointed by Order in Council to serve as Boundary Commissioner of British Columbia;
•	appointed to the Board of Management of The Association of British Columbia Land Surveyors; and
•	delegate to the Canadian Council on Geomatics to deal with cadastral survey issues on a national scale in conjunction with other provinces, the territories and the federal government.

Crown Grant Services include:

•	preparation of Crown grant documents conveying Crown land in fee simple. During the 2003/04 fiscal year, the unit prepared 417 Crown grants which provided over $77 million in revenue to the province;
•	preparation of Ministerial Orders to amend, cancel or replace terms, covenants, provisions, stipulations, reservations or exemptions of existing Crown grants and cancellations of those Crown grants deemed to be defective; and
•	transactional advice on more complex conveyance procedures involving registration of multiple instruments.

Records Distribution Services

Services include:

•	respond to client requests for copies of plans, field notes, historical survey records, Crown grant documents and reference maps in a variety of mediums;
•	scanning records for population in the ATLAS database to support electronic retrieval through GATOR;
•	records management and maintenance; and
•	promote and educate clients on internet use for retrieval of electronic records.
•	for email enquires please use Orderdesk@ltsa.ca

Digital Survey Plan Project

The Digital Survey Plan project is a multi year, multi phase project that will result in the electronic delivery of survey plans in a digital format to the Crown Land Registry and the Land Title Offices and the electronic delivery of survey information for the maintenance of a provincial legal (cadastral) parcel base map as close to source as possible.

Functionality to allow the digital submission of plans to the Crown Land Registry went live on July 24, 2006. (Survey plans prepared pursuant to the Land Act, the Mineral Tenure Act, the Petroleum & Natural Gas Act and the Coal Act are filed in the Crown Land Registry.)

Functionality to allow the digital submission of plans to the Land Title Office is anticipated to be in pilot in early 2007.

Digital Survey Plan (e-Survey) Project - Home

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