A municipality brought a motion seeking directions regarding service of a notice of application for a declaration under the Beds of Navigable Waters Act concerning whether a stream crossing the respondents’ property was navigable at the time of the original Crown grant in 1831.
The respondents asserted that the stream created a natural severance of their land and that the stream bed was unpatented Crown land.
The court held that the only issue in the application was whether the waterway was navigable at the time of the Crown grant, which affected only the parties to the proceeding.
Upstream and downstream landowners would need to litigate the issue independently based on their own Crown grants.
Accordingly, no additional parties were required to be served, and directions were provided regarding the order of proof at trial.
