Predecessor of party in this case acquired Hibou conservation lands in 1973
In a recent case, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice deemed Grey Sauble Conservation Authority (GSCA) entitled to ownership of and legal title to the subject parcel of land that fell within the Hibou Conservation Area.
GSCA – the applicant in Grey Sauble Conservation Authority v. Dirckx et al, 2025 ONSC 3090 – owned large tracts of land in southwestern Ontario. The land neighbored the Bruce Peninsula from Lake Huron toward the west and Georgian Bay toward the east.
GSCA operated those lands as conservation areas, including Hibou Conservation Area. Hibou lay along Owen Sound Bay’s eastern shoreline, which was south of Leith, Ontario. The property subject to the present dispute was Parcel 3, Lot 36, Broken Front Concession, in the former Township of Sydenham, now the Municipality of Meaford.
Under the registry system, a deed conveyed titles to specific lands when North Grey Regional Conservation Authority, GSCA’s predecessor, acquired conservation lands for Hibou in 1973.
The director of titles assigned property identification numbers (PINs) to the disputed property and the surrounding lands during the administrative conversion of those lands to the land titles system.
The registry system converted all of GSCA’s surrounding properties, except the subject property, to land titles in 2009. This conversion included privately owned property under PIN 37092-0102(LT). Third parties not involved in the present case held title to this property.
This proceeding arose when the respondent claimed that a single legal description was wide enough to cover both PIN 37092-0350(R) and PIN 37092-0102 (LT). He also alleged that:
In response to these allegations, GSCA applied for a declaration that it was the proper owner of the title to the property on PIN 37092-0350(R) within Hibou under s. 97 of Ontario’s Courts of Justice Act, 1990.
The respondent asked the court to dismiss GSCA’s application and remove the certificate of pending litigation registered against the title to the disputed property. He argued that GSCA failed to show a good title to the property. Alternatively, he wanted to resolve this dispute administratively via the director of titles.
The Ontario Superior Court granted a judgment in GSCA’s favour in connection with the subject property.
Specifically, the court issued declarations vesting all the rights, title, and interest in PIN 37092-0350(R) in GSCA’s favour in fee simple and extinguishing all the rights, title, interest, or claims of the respondent or anybody else in the disputed property.
The court’s orders directed Grey County’s land registrar to delete Instruments R564534, R564718, and R565478 from the parcel register as null and void; to discharge the certificate of pending litigation; and to instruct the director of land titles to delete the certificate from the parcel register.
The court concluded that GSCA met its burden to establish its entitlement to the relief requested in its notice of application, an order unifying the subject property with its own PIN, and ownership of and legal title to Parcel 3, Lot 36.
The court acknowledged that the disputed property’s title flowed from Instrument R138258 as a parcel transferred to North Grey Regional Conservation Authority along with other lands in 1973. The court added that the Hibou Conservation Area has covered the subject property since then.
