Canada Lands surveys: Service standards

This page covers the Canada Lands service standards for 2020 onward.

On this page

• Issuing survey instructions
• Recording survey documents in Canada Lands Survey Records (CLSR)
• Updating cadastral datasets: New plans

Service standards are the level of performance you can reasonably expect to encounter under normal circumstances. Our Surveyor General Branch (SGB) has developed these standards as part of our ongoing commitment to quality client service.

Issuing survey instructions

This is a timeliness service standard for processing survey instructions requests received from Canada Lands surveyors. Our standard applies to complete requests for survey instructions made from the MyCLSS website. This standard only applies to survey instruction requests that contain all the required information.

• Our standard: We issue survey instructions within two business days of receiving the request.
• Our target: We aim to meet this standard ≥ 95% of the time.

Recording survey documents in Canada Lands Survey Records (CLSR)

This is a timeliness service standard for recording a survey document (survey plan, field notes and/or report) in the CLSR after it has been approved or confirmed by the SGB. A survey document is recorded once a CLSR number is assigned to it.

The day a request for recording is made is not included in this time limit. This service standard does not apply to survey documents related to surveys under the Land Titles Act — Nunavut, Land Titles Act — Northwest Territories or Land Titles Act — Yukon.

• Our standard: We record survey documents within two business days from the date it is approved or confirmed.
• Our target: We aim to meet this standard ≥ 95% of the time.

Updating cadastral datasets: New plans

This is a timeliness service standard for updating the cadastral datasets once a new survey document is recorded in the CLSR. This update operation begins when a digital image of the new document is available in the Survey Records Information System. The standard only applies to new survey documents recorded in the CLSR. Once dataset updates are complete, the distribution process of the updated data takes place.

The number and complexity of the parcels involved in the new survey plan influence the time to update.

• Our standard: Subject to the number and complexity of the parcels involved on the survey document, we complete the update within 15 working days from the date the digital image is available.
• Our target: We aim to meet this standard ≥ 75% of the time.