BILL C-339 The Godfrey-Milliken Bill An Act to permit descendants of United Empire Loyalists who fled the land that later became the United States of America after the 1776 American Revolution to establish a claim to the property they or their ancestors owned in the United States that was confiscated without compensation, and claim compensation for it in the Canadian courts, and to exclude from Canada any foreign person trafficking in such property First reading, October 22, 1996 2nd Session, 35th Parliament, 45 Elizabeth II, 1996 THE HOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA BILL C-339 PROJET An Act to permit descendants of United Empire Loyalists who fled the land that later became the United States of America after the 1776 American Revolution to establish a claim to the property they or their ancestors owned in the United States that was confiscated without compensation, and claim compensation for it in the Canadian courts, and to exclude from Canada any foreign person trafficking in such property PreambleWHEREAS the Congress of the United States of America has, by passing the Act known as the Helms-Burton Act, proposed to the in- ternational community a principle that a na- tion may and should provide means for its citizens who have had property in a foreign state confiscated to sue those presently enjoying the property for compensation, even those who are not nationals of the confiscating nation, and sanction them by denying them entry to the nation; WHEREAS many United Empire Loyalists, who were residents of the land that later be- came the United States of America, had to leave their property in the latter part of the eighteenth century and flee because of their political beliefs, and about half of them settled in Canada; WHEREAS that property was confiscated by revolutionary courts without the authority of law and without compensation; WHEREAS, by the Treaty of Paris, concluded in 1783 between the United Kingdom and the United States of America and ratified by the United States Congress, the United States agreed to ``the restitution of all Estates, Rights, and Properties, which have been con fiscated''; WHEREAS the states of the American union and the federal government of the UnitedStates of America have failed to carry out the treaty obligations and have persecuted those who sought recourse to United States justice to exercise their rightful property rights; WHEREAS this injustice was not addressed by Jay's Treaty of 1794 or the accord nego- tiated with the British government by the United States plenipotentiary, Rufus King, in 1802 when outstanding commercial debts owed to British subjects were satisfied; WHEREAS the assistance provided by the British government to Loyalist refugees set- tling in the remaining colonies did not dis charge the American governments from their obligations to these dispossessed people; WHEREAS the seized Loyalist property is now being used and enjoyed by citizens of the United States; WHEREAS it is just and equitable that Canadians who are heirs to Loyalists whose property was confiscated, stolen or destroyed by the American revolutionaries should be afforded the same assistance as is provided by the United States government to its citizens who have had property in Cuba confiscated by the revolutionary government there; AND WHEREAS the Parliament of Canada, ina spirit of moderation, believes that rights of compensation and enforcement should be presently directed only at the citizens of the confiscating nation and not at citizens of other nations who may now happen to be beneficia- ries of property that was confiscated; NOW THEREFORE, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: Short title1. This Act may be cited as the Godfrey- Milliken Act. Definitions 2. In this Act, ``confiscated property'' means any real or personal property or interest therein that was owned by a United Empire Loyalist in the lands that subsequently became the United States of America; that was confiscated or occupied by others at or after the time the Loyalist had to flee because of political beliefs; and that has not been restored to the Loyalist owner or a person who has a proper claim to ownership through the Loyalist owner, or for which proper compensation has not been paid. ``traffic'', with respect to property, means to use, occupy, benefit from, enjoy, exploit, develop, harvest, sell, purchase or manage the property. Action respecting confiscated property 3. (1) Any person who has a reasonable claim to an interest in confiscated property may bring an action in the Federal Court of Canada and the Court may determine whether the claim is valid. (2) If the Court determines that a claim is valid, the claimant may request the Court to order that the property be returned to the claimant by the person purporting to be its owner, or order that the claimant be compensated by the payment of an amount of damages set by the Court being the greater of the fair market value of the property at the time it was confiscated plus interest at the extant rates from time to time from the date the property was confiscated until the date the damages are paid, and the fair market value of the property at the time of the order plus interest until the date the damages are paid, and name the persons who have trafficked or are trafficking in the property as being the persons liable to pay all or part of the damages. Notice, subsequent trafficking triple damages (3) The claimant may serve any person ordered by the Court as liable to pay damages under subsection (2) with a copy of this Act and a copy of the order of the Court and any person who traffics in the confiscated property after being so served is liable to pay the claimant triple the amount of damages deter- mined pursuant to subsection (2) Exclusion of traffickers. 4. (1) No person who has been ordered by the Federal Court to be a person who is required to return confiscated property shall be permitted to enter or remain in Canada in any capacity until the person has returned the property. (2) No person who is liable to pay damages under subsection 3(2) or (3) shall be permitted to enter or remain in Canada in any capacity until the person has paid the damages. definition3) For the purposes of this section, ``person'' where the person is an individual, includes the spouse and dependents of the person; where the person is a corporation, means every shareholder, director and senior offi- cer of the corporation; and where the person is an agency or department of a government or is a municipality, means the official who is the chief administrative officer of that agency, de- partment or municipality. 5. The State Immunity Act is amended by adding the following after section 5: 5.1 A foreign state is not immune from the jurisdiction of a court in any proceedings arising from the Godfrey-Milliken Act.