In Canada, a very old arrangement dating from the creation of the country, says that navigable water is a federal matter. Whether it’s on the side of the ocean, a big lake, or a river, the water and anything below high tide is Crown “land”, and public. There are obviously exceptions and access by land can be controlled but not by water. At least not the beach itself.
More of this country is crownlands than privately owned lands. Except for the National or Provincial Parks you can roam free without registration. There is no cell signal when you head out there, you need a sat phone or one way emergency beacon.
Yeah but my biggest issue is that I live in the south of Quebec without a car, and most land here except water is private. If i want access to Crown land and wild camp, I have to cycle for a few solid hours up north. Like, at least 100 km.
AFAIK even with a car, it’s like this for most of my province. The vast majority of the population lives concentrated around the archipelago and they have to drive a few hours north to get away from private land. Plus, it’s not easy to be certain what is Crown land or not.
In Canada, a very old arrangement dating from the creation of the country, says that navigable water is a federal matter. Whether it’s on the side of the ocean, a big lake, or a river, the water and anything below high tide is Crown “land”, and public. There are obviously exceptions and access by land can be controlled but not by water. At least not the beach itself.
It leads to weird situations, like a provincial park that can’t stop boaters from using remote parts of “their” beach. Or another where boats band together between some islands, and party and jetboat among kayaks and SUP.
But this also prevents owners of big houses around lakes to claim a part of that lake, or the foreshore.
We don’t have the right to roam in general here, with some exceptions for Crown lands, and it happens that bodies of water and rivers is Crown land.
Anyway, that’s how I understand this.
More of this country is crownlands than privately owned lands. Except for the National or Provincial Parks you can roam free without registration. There is no cell signal when you head out there, you need a sat phone or one way emergency beacon.
Yeah but my biggest issue is that I live in the south of Quebec without a car, and most land here except water is private. If i want access to Crown land and wild camp, I have to cycle for a few solid hours up north. Like, at least 100 km.
AFAIK even with a car, it’s like this for most of my province. The vast majority of the population lives concentrated around the archipelago and they have to drive a few hours north to get away from private land. Plus, it’s not easy to be certain what is Crown land or not.
All the red is private.