Whose Country Is It?

Alberta votes, Jamaica sues, and Canada still swears to the King

Today, Monday, October 19, 2026, Albertans are voting on whether to start the process of leaving Canada. It's being sold as a fight between Edmonton and Ottawa. But there's an older question under it, one Jamaica is about to put to a court in London: who does this land actually belong to, and who gets paid for it?

Explainer · scroll

Follow the Deed

Three and a half centuries, one pattern: the Crown pays the owners, never the people.

Prices = what it would buy. Share of economy = how big it was relative to Britain then (UCL's measure).

Money thenToday: pricesToday: share of economy

1. 1/6 · 1670

   A king signs away a third of a continent

   Charles II charters a private company, the Hudson’s Bay Company, and grants it Rupert’s Land: about a third of what is now Canada.

   Receipt · The 1670 charter (opens in a new tab)

2. 2/6 · 1833

   The Crown pays the owners

   Britain abolishes slavery and pays slave owners £20m for lost “property.” The freed people get nothing. Follow the £20 Million →

   Receipt · Slave Compensation Act (opens in a new tab)

3. 3/6 · 1869

   The company sells. The people aren't asked.

   The Hudson’s Bay Company gives up Rupert’s Land for £300,000 plus about 7 million acres of farmland. The Métis living there are never consulted. Louis Riel leads the resistance.

   Receipt · Rupert's Land (opens in a new tab)

4. 4/6 · Today

   89% of Canada is still Crown land

   About 41% is held federally and 48% by the provinces. Only around 11% is privately owned.

   Receipt · Land ownership in Canada (opens in a new tab)

5. 5/6 · The oil sands

   The Crown leases. Shareholders collect.

   Suncor, Canadian Natural, Cenovus and Imperial pump about 80% of the oil sands. Together they’re 73% foreign-owned and 60% American. From 2021 to 2024 they paid about $80bn to shareholders, and roughly three-quarters of it left Canada.

   Receipt · DeSmog (opens in a new tab)Receipt · The Energy Mix (opens in a new tab)

6. 6/6 · The oath

   Canadians don't get a cheque. They get an oath.

   New citizens, police officers and soldiers swear allegiance to King Charles III. Removing him would take Parliament and all ten provinces.

   Receipt · Oath of Citizenship (opens in a new tab)Receipt · Constitution, s. 41 (opens in a new tab)

Emancipation, as Britain celebrated it. The cheque went to the owners. Image: Internet Archive Book Images, via Wikimedia Commons (no known copyright restrictions).

The answer goes back to 1833. That year, Britain abolished slavery across its empire, Jamaica included. But the Crown didn't pay the people who had been enslaved. It paid the people who owned them: £20 million, for lost "property." The freed people got nothing. In Jamaica they were made to keep working unpaid as "apprentices" until 1838. To raise the money, the government borrowed £15 million from a City of London banking syndicate. British taxpayers were still paying it off until 2015.

Thirty-six years later, the Crown made the same kind of deal in Canada. In 1670, King Charles II had granted a private company, the Hudson's Bay Company, control of about a third of what is now Canada. In 1869 the company gave that land up for £300,000 and seven million acres of farmland. Again, the owner was paid. The Métis and First Nations people living there weren't even asked. When Louis Riel stood up for them, Canada sent troops, and later it hanged him.

Louis Riel, Métis leader, hanged in 1885. Image: after a carte de visite, c. 1884, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Two countries, one deal: whoever holds the deed gets paid, and whoever lives on the land gets ruled.

That deal never really ended. About 89% of Canada is still Crown land. The oil, minerals and timber are leased out to companies. Four of them, Suncor, Canadian Natural, Cenovus and Imperial Oil, pump about 80% of the oil sands. Together they're 73% foreign-owned and 60% American-owned. Imperial is majority-owned by ExxonMobil. From 2021 to 2024, those four paid nearly $80 billion to shareholders, and almost three-quarters of it left the country.

Ordinary Canadians don't get a cheque. They get an oath. Every new citizen, police officer and soldier swears true allegiance to King Charles the Third, his heirs and successors.

That's why Jamaica's case matters here. Jamaica has asked the Crown's own court, the Privy Council, whether slavery was ever lawful and whether a remedy is owed. The hearing is set for March 2027. If the answer is that the 1833 deal was wrong, then the model it set up, paying the owners and never the people, is open to question everywhere the Crown used it. That includes Canada.

So while Alberta votes on leaving Canada, remember that neither Canada nor Jamaica has ever left the Crown. In Canada it would take Parliament and all ten provinces to even try.

Whose country is it? For two hundred years, the answer has been whoever holds the deed. Until the people ask the question, that answer won't change.

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