In past years, land
surveyors were licensed as Provincial Land Surveyors(PLS) or
Crown Land Surveyors under the authority of the Department of
Lands and Forests. Surveying
in Nova Scotia has a rich history dating back to the early
explorers and surveyors such as
John Cabot,
Samuel de Champlain,
James Cook,
Joseph FW Des Barres, Samuel Holland,
Charles
Morris,
Charles Morris Jr. and
Ambrose F. Church.
The Association of Nova Scotia Land Surveyors (ANSLS) was created in 1951 by
provincial statute, replacing the Land Surveyors Act of 1910.
The Association was incorporated in 1955 as the Association of
Professional Land Surveyors of Nova Scotia, and was later
changed in 1968 to the Association of Nova Scotia Land
Surveyors.
The Association is a
self-governing body, constituted by the Land Surveyors Act. The
objectives of the Association are to establish and maintain
standards of professional ethics, knowledge, and skill among its
members and regulate the practice of professional land surveying
– including governing Nova Scotia Land Surveyors in order to
protect the public interest. The Association is guided by the
Act, Regulations, By-laws, and related governance documents, in
providing the highest level of land surveying services.
Professional land surveying is defined in the
Land Surveyors Act (2, ad) as “the advising on, the reporting
on, the supervising of or the conducting of surveys to determine
the horizontal and vertical position of any point and the
direction and length of any line required to control, establish,
locate, define or describe the extent or limitations of title.”
Additional information on the profession can be accessed on the
ANSLS website under the RESOURCES tab.
“The profession is crucial because
it underpins virtually every aspect of the physical development
and management of our world. Surveyors provide the essential
data and expertise needed for building infrastructure, managing
natural resources, planning urban growth, and ensuring legal and
financial certainty in land-related matters. Their work has a
profound impact on the economy, environment, and society as a
whole.”
[1]
Surveying is an important and lucrative
profession. Surveyors analyze, solve problems, resolve disputes,
confront issues, and address societal needs. Without surveyors,
our future economic and social development would be challenged.
Professional land surveyors provide opinions on the extent of
ownership and ultimately protect the public, creating social
harmony and driving economic development.
[1] Posted on X (Twitter) 19 July
2024 @ 11:01am by Get Kids Into Survey
The Association does not perform surveys, nor keep any members files. If you would like to speak to a surveyor, go to our "find a surveyor" page for contact information.
If you've found a survey marker with a name or 3-digit number on the top of the marker, you can refer to our Historical Members page under "find a surveyor" tab. If the listed name has a link, it will give you the info of a past surveyor who has passed their files to another surveyor.
**PLEASE NOTE** Anyone who removes a surveyor marker, other than a licensed Land Surveyor, is guilty of a criminal offense and punishable by law. Criminal Code 442 & 443 - Department of Justice Canada.