Historical Publications

This site contains the historical general instructions of the Surveyor General as they existed from time to time. The general instructions are outdated and no longer apply on Canada Lands but may provide valuable information on the survey system and the methodology used in the past. The documents are available online either as scanned images (with optical character recognition), PDF, or HTML format.

• National Standards for the Survey of Canada Lands (1.1) (2018 - 2021)
• National Standards for the Survey of Canada Lands (1.0) (2015 - 2018)
• Canada Lands, e-Edition - (2004 - 2015)
• Canada Lands manuals - 1^st to 3^rd Editions (1961-2004)
• Dominion Lands manuals - 1^st to 10^th Editions (1871-1961)
• Survey monuments of the Township systems - Bulletin 38 (1917)

The Surveyor General's responsibilities for issuing survey instructions for surveys of Indian Reserves officially ended on May 7, 1880, when the Department of Indian Affairs was created. The new department created its own survey office and issued general instructions for surveys of Indian Reserve. The Surveyor General continue to issue general instructions concerning township surveys. This practice continued for a period of 56 years until 1936 when the Surveyor General again was made responsible for Indian Reserve surveys.

• General Instructions for Surveyors – Department of Indian Affairs (presumed to be about 1908)
• General Instructions (1883) for the Survey of Indian Reserves – Department of Indian Affairs