Soldier Settlement Act (R.S.C. 1927, c. 188)

Marginal note:Notice in writing of amount of indebtedness to soldier Notice prima facie evidence

60 Notwithstanding anything in this Act, or in any agreement, contract, or other document, in any case in which the indebtedness of a settler is consolidated, the Board may cause to be delivered to the settler personally or to be directed by mail to him at his address last known to the Board, a notice signed by such official as the Board may designate, setting forth the amount of the total indebtedness of the settler at date of consolidation, the dates and amounts of payments to be made thereon by the settler, and the amount then due and payable, and the production of a copy of such notice certified under the seal of the Board shall be accepted for all purposes and in all Courts as prima facie evidence of the due service of the notice on the settler and of the amount of the settler’s indebtedness, the dates and amounts of payments to be made thereon, and the amount then due and payable as in said notice set forth.

Marginal note:Franking privileges of Director

61 All letters and other mailable matter sent to or by the Director of Soldier Settlement at Ottawa shall be free of Canada postage under such regulations as are from time to time made in that respect by the Governor in Council.

Marginal note:No fee or commission on any sale to Board

• 62  No person, firm or corporation shall be entitled to charge or to collect as against or from any other person, firm or corporation any fee or commission or advance of price for services rendered in the sale of any land made to the Board, whether for the finding or introducing of a buyer or otherwise.

• Marginal note:Payment of fee prohibited

  2. No person, firm or corporation shall pay to any other person, firm or corporation any such fee or commission or advance of price for any such services.

• Marginal note:Affidavit when required

  3. The Board may require of any person, firm or corporation from whom it purchases land, or who is in any manner interested therein, the execution of an affidavit in form E in the schedule to this Act.

• Marginal note:Consequences of payment by or to any person of fee or commission

  4. If any such fee or commission or advance of price is paid by or to any such person, firm or corporation for any such services the following consequences shall ensue: —

  • (a) [Repealed, 2000, c. 34, s. 49]

  • (b) the fee or commission or advance in price paid may be recovered by the Board, by suit instituted in the name of the Board as agent of His Majesty, in any court having jurisdiction in debt to the amount involved, whether the transaction was one with respect to a sale or projected sale to the Board, as if such amount were a debt due to the Board, as aforesaid, and every person who participated in the receipt of any part of such amount shall be liable to pay to the Board the part of such amount actually received by him; and

  • (c) all such consequences shall have operation cumulatively.

• Marginal note:No officer, agent or employee to purchase, acquire or sell land which Board is authorized to deal with, or act as agent, or take commission Penalty

  5. No officer, agent or employee of or under the Board shall directly or indirectly, in his own name or in that of any other person, except by or under the authority of the Board, purchase, acquire or sell any land or other property of such character as the Board is authorized to purchase, acquire or sell under this Act from or to any settler who is indebted to the Board or whose application for an advance or to purchase any property from the Board is pending, nor shall such officer, agent or employee act as an agent or otherwise of any person in purchasing, acquiring, or selling or otherwise as aforesaid, nor receive any commission or compensation in connection therewith, and any officer, agent or employee violating the provisions of this subsection shall in addition to any criminal liability incurred pursuant to the provisions of this Act, be liable to summary dismissal on the order of the Board and the liability to or imposition of such penalty shall not affect the right which any person may have to bring against him any civil action.

63 [Repealed, 2000, c. 34, s. 50]

Marginal note:Regulations that Board may make

• 64  The Board may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, and subject to the provisions of this Act, make regulations, prescribing

  • (a) the manner in which entries for land and applications for loans or advances may be made;

  • (b) the conditions as to occupation or otherwise upon which free entries and patents for land may be granted and issued;

  • (c) the security to be given for loans or advances, the conditions subject to which loans or advances shall be made, and the manner and dates in and at which such loans or advances shall be repaid, including dates at which amortized or other payments shall be consolidated or commence;

  • (d) the manner and conditions in and upon which settlers may transfer their rights;

  • (e) the conditions subject to which lands may be acquired for the purposes of this Act;

  • (f) the manner in which lands acquired by the Board may be sold to settlers and others and the conditions as to occupation or otherwise upon which such lands may be sold;

  • (g) for priority of right as between applicants to purchase property or for soldier grants or for advances or loans on the security of property;

  • (h) as to the qualifications necessary in order to entitle settlers to the benefits or assistance or to any particular benefit or assistance under this Act, to the end that the settler may have a reasonable prospect of success as a farmer;

  • (i) forms of agreements, mortgages, notices and other documents necessary to the effective operation of this Act;

  • (j) advanced rates of interest to be paid by settlers who may be in default, such rates, however, not to exceed seven per centum per annum;

  • (k) the circumstances and procedure under which and whereby the Board may take over or repossess property in case of default made by settlers in the observance of the provisions of this or of the former Act or of any covenant or agreement made by settlers with the Board;

  • (l) authority and procedure for the inclusion within the expression “settler” of persons who, being otherwise qualified to be settlers, are not discharged from military or other service;

  • (m) with respect to blind or other partially but seriously incapacitated settlers, special provisions for assistance in settlement of small holdings or otherwise inclusive of the remission of interest in whole or in part;

  • (m.1) the appointment of persons to exercise or perform with respect to such matters as may be specified in the regulations any of the powers or duties conferred or imposed by this Act on the Board; and

  • (n) with respect to any other matter concerning which the Board deems regulations necessary for the execution of the purposes of this Act.

• 2. [Repealed, 1950, c. 50, s. 10]

Marginal note:Marks or brands to denote the Board’s ownership of property

• 65  The marks or brands specified in this section in that behalf may be applied in or on any property of the Board to denote the Board’s ownership or interest in such property; but the omission to apply any such mark or brand shall not affect such ownership or interest

  Marks appropriated for the use of the Soldier Settlement Board in marking its property
  Property	Marks or Brands
  Live stock	Upstanding broad arrow with its base abutting on lazy S. with or without any numerals in any order.
  Equipment	Broad arrow with its base abutting on lazy S.

• Marginal note:Applying of marks or brands by officers, agents, etc.

  2. It shall be lawful for the Board or its officers, agents, and workmen to apply such marks or brands, or any of them, in or on any such property.

• Marginal note:Unauthorized applying or destroying of marks or brands

  3. No person shall, without the authority of the Board, the proof of which shall lie on him, apply any of the said marks or brands in or on any property of the Board, nor take out, destroy or obliterate, wholly or in part, from any property, any of the said marks or brands.

• Marginal note:Unauthorized receiving, selling, etc., of property bearing marks or brands

  4. No person shall, without the authority of the Board, the proof of which shall lie on him, receive, possess, keep, sell or deliver any property bearing any marks or brands as aforesaid.

• Marginal note:Exemption from operation of provincial laws where ownership vested in Board

  5. Notwithstanding any law, whether statute or otherwise, in force in any province, authorizing or requiring the registration or recording of marks or brands, or prohibiting the use of any mark or brand which has not been registered, or prescribing any procedure to be followed in connection therewith, the use and application by the Board or any of its authorized officers or employees of the said marks or brands, shall not so long as any ownership or interest of or in the property affected is vested in the Board, be subject to or within the operations of such provincial laws.

Marginal note:Insurance of property in favour of Board by settler when indebted to Board Assignment or delivery of policy to Board

• 66  While a settler is indebted to the Board in connection with sale of land or other property to him by the Board, or while any sum remains unpaid upon the aggregate advances or payments made from time to time pursuant to the provisions of this Act or otherwise to or on behalf of the settler, and secured by or charged whether under this Act or otherwise, upon property, real, personal or other, of the settler, or upon the settler’s interest in any property, the Board may require that the settler shall insure in favour of the Board any property to the extent of its insurable value and shall assign and deliver over unto the Board, as the interest of the Board may appear, the policy or policies of insurance or receipt or receipts thereto appertaining, and deliver to the Board all receipts for taxes paid upon any such property, insured or otherwise.

• Marginal note:Payment of rates, taxes, insurance, etc., by Board in case of default on part of settler Amount added to purchase price and repayable at discretion of Board

  (2) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Act if the settler fails or neglects to pay any lawful rates, taxes or assessments or to keep such property insured as aforesaid then it shall be lawful for the Board to pay such rates, taxes or assessments or to insure such property as aforesaid and all moneys so expended by the Board either before or after the enactment hereof, shall be repaid by the settler on demand with interest at the rate of five per centum per annum computed from the time of advancing the same, and in the meantime the amount of such payment shall be added to the purchase price of such property or shall become a part of the principal secured by any charge, lien or mortgage in favour of the Board, as the case may be, and may in the discretion of the Board be made repayable at the time appointed for the payment of the next instalment in connection with the account to which such indebtedness is charged.

Marginal note:Power to pay rates and taxes

66A Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Act the Director of Soldier Settlement may pay any lawful rates, taxes or assessments imposed in respect of any land held by the Director of Soldier Settlement not the subject of a contract of sale at the date of such imposition.

Marginal note:Settler’s account to be credited with certain reductions

• 67  Notwithstanding anything in this Act, in the case of any settler who has not repaid his indebtedness to the Board, or who has not abandoned his land, or whose agreement with the Board has not been terminated or rescinded, the Board shall credit his account with an amount, in reduction of his indebtedness to the Board, determined as follows: —

    Forty per cent of the purchase price of all live stock sold by the Board to the settler prior to the first day of October, 1920;

    Twenty per cent of the purchase price of all live stock sold by the Board to the settler on or after the first day of October, 1920, and prior to the first day of October, 1921.

• 2. The settler’s account shall be credited with the total amount, determined as aforesaid, as on the standard date in 1925.

Marginal note:Revaluation of land sold to settlers Conditions

68 Notwithstanding anything in this Act, a settler who is indebted to the Board in respect of an amount loaned to him by the Board under the former Act for and expended in the purchase of agricultural land or has agreed to purchase any land from the Board, who has not assigned or transferred his interest in his land, whose agreement with the Board has not been terminated or rescinded, who has not repaid his indebtedness to the Board, and who claims that there has been a depreciation in the value of such land not the result of neglect or mismanagement on his part, may make application for the revaluation of the said land subject to the following conditions: —

• Marginal note:Application to District Superintendent

  (a) application for revaluation shall be submitted to the District Superintendent of the Soldier Settlement Board for the district within which the said land is situate;

• Marginal note:Affidavits

  (b) the application shall be supported by a statutory declaration setting out

  • (i) the original purchase price of the land and the value of improvements effected since the establishment of the settler thereon, and

  • (ii) his belief as to present value of the land and his reasons therefor;

• Marginal note:How depreciation shall be computed

  (c) the depreciation in value to be determined shall be the amount by which, through no neglect or mismanagement on the part of the settler, the price at which the Board agreed to sell the land and improvements to the settler or the price under the former Act paid by the settler with the approval of the Board for the land and improvements exceeds the present value, and in determining the present value of the land, improvements made by the settler shall not be included: Provided that in any case where the actual sale price is greater than the maximum amount which under section sixteen of this Act may be advanced by the Board in the purchase of land on behalf of any settler, such maximum amount shall be deemed the sale price for the purposes of this section;

• Marginal note:Time for application

  (d) all applications for revaluation must be submitted to the Board prior to the first day of October, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven, except as otherwise provided by regulation;

• Marginal note:Board to determine depreciation in value Appeal to Federal Court

  (e) upon the receipt of an application made in accordance with the terms of this section the Board shall ascertain and determine the depreciation in value as set forth in paragraph (c) of this section; and if any applicant is dissatisfied with the decision of the Board he may within such time as is prescribed by regulations made by the Governor in Council, appeal to the Federal Court of Canada, and the decision of that Court shall be final;

• Marginal note:Expenditure

  (f) expenditures necessarily incurred by or in connection with the administration of this Act as may be provided by regulation, shall be paid out of moneys appropriated from time to time by Parliament to soldier land settlement;

• Marginal note:Credit to settler if depreciation found

  (g) where the decision shows that there has been depreciation as hereinbefore set forth in paragraph (c) in the value of the land and improvements which the Board agreed to sell to a settler, the Board, notwithstanding anything in this Act, shall credit the settler’s account as on the standard date in 1925 with the amount of depreciation as finally determined, and upon the settler’s account being so credited, the balance then owing by the settler for all purposes shall, at the discretion of the Board, be consolidated and deemed to be the settler’s total indebtedness and the total cost of the property may be amortized over the remaining period of the loan: Provided that the maximum amount which may be so credited to any settler shall in no case exceed the settler’s total indebtedness to the Board as at the time of the final determination of the amount of depreciation in value aforesaid;

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (h) the Board may with the approval of the Governor in Council, make such regulations as may be necessary for the purposes of this section;

• Marginal note:Procedure in appeals

  (i) the Governor in Council may make such regulations as he deems fit for the procedure in appeals to the Federal Court under this section, and may by such regulations modify or dispense with any provisions as to procedure in the Federal Court Act or in the rules of practice of that Court, and all such regulations made shall be published forthwith in the Canada Gazette;

• Marginal note:Reinstatement of settler in certain cases

  (j) notwithstanding anything in this Act, in the case of any settler whose agreement with the Board has been terminated or rescinded and who is desirous of repurchasing the land which he agreed to purchase from the Board may, provided the land has not been otherwise disposed of, reinstate the settler in such rights with respect to the land as he had prior to the termination or rescission of his agreement and extend to him the benefits of this section from which he would otherwise be debarred by reason of the termination or rescission of his agreement.