Canada: artifacts

Canada allows private ownership but controls export. Archaeological objects over 75 years old recovered from Canadian soil or waters need an export permit; provincial heritage acts vest finds in the Crown. Governing law: Cultural Property Export and Import Act (R.S.C. 1985, c. C-51) (1977). Stratum asks for the export paperwork reference before the piece is listed.

The United States restricts import of Canada archaeological material of 12000 BCE – 1800 CE and ethnological material culture of Canadian origin under the CPIA (T.D. 97-31, restricted since 1997). Entry needs the export certificate or proof the object left Canada before 1997. Domestic resale of material already lawfully in the US is not restricted by this, but the paper is what a buyer will ask for.

US courts have applied foreign patrimony laws through the National Stolen Property Act (United States v. McClain, 1977; United States v. Schultz, 2003): an object exported after a clear vesting law can be stolen property in the United States even when no US import restriction existed at the time. The date of the earliest document that places an object outside Canada is therefore the single most valuable fact on its record.

Sources

Cite this article

Stratum Strata. "Canada: artifacts" (Law & ethics). Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-20. https://stratum.black/strata/law/archaeology-canada. Accessed 2026-09-21.

BibTeX · CSL-JSON

@misc{stratum-archaeology-canada,
  title        = {Canada: artifacts},
  author       = {{Stratum Strata}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/strata/law/archaeology-canada}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Law & ethics article, Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-20; sources: stratum. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
}

Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.

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Sources