Agricultural Law Netletter - March 21, 2017 - Issue 368

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench has considered the issue of whether a landowner whose land borders an artificial reservoir has the right to fence-in the portions of the reservoir in a manner which deprives other landowners, whose land also borders the reservoir, from the use of the fenced-in portion of the reservoir. The Court concluded that while the land beneath an artificial reservoir may still be owned by the landowner, the water covering this land is owned by the Province, and the landowner cannot claim trespass against others who enter on water covering the land. The landowner's right to construct a fence into the reservoir is limited to situations where the landowner has a bona fide interest in doing so to prevent livestock from leaving their property, or preventing trespassers from trespassing on their land. In this case the Court concluded that the fence was not bona fide, that it had to be removed and that other landowners whose property