P.E.I. government investigating land holdings of two Buddhist groups

There are two Buddhist monasteries in eastern P.E.I., where monks from around the world have been coming to pray and study for almost 10 years. (Jonathan MacInnis/CTV Atlantic)

CHARLOTTETOWN — The Prince Edward Island government has ordered an investigation into the land holdings of two Buddhist organizations in the province.

Housing Minister Steven Myers made the announcement Wednesday, saying Islanders have valid concerns about who owns land and how it is being used.

“Our land must be managed in ways that best serve the long-term interests of the Island, balancing population growth, the protection of prime agricultural land, and climate change adaptation,” Myers said in a statement. “We are taking decisive action on land-use and ownership to ensure our land is preserved for current and future generations of Islanders.”

The minister said the province’s Regulatory and Appeals Commission will use the Lands Protection Act to investigate the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute Inc. and Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society, both of which are committed to studying and promoting Tibetan Buddhism.

He said planned amendments to the act will improve the province’s oversight of non-residents who own land on the Island.

The Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute in Brudenell, P.E.I., is a monastery for nuns, mostly from Taiwan, about 200 of whom live at the monastery while another 300 live nearby. In 2019, the Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society included about 600 monks -- most from Taiwan -- living on separate campuses in Little Sands, P.E.I., and Heatherdale, P.E.I.

Matthew MacFarlane, a member of P.E.I.‘s opposition Green Party, said the Buddhist organizations and their followers started buying land in eastern P.E.I. more than 10 years ago.

“It’s not clear exactly the amount of acres that either of the organizations or the monks individually hold,” he said in an interview this week. “But we’re talking thousands of acres .... It’s had the effect of taking some of the residential housing supply out of the market as well as agricultural land.”

The Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society did not respond to a request for an interview.

MacFarlane said the provincial government has done a poor job of ensuring that property buyers in the area have complied with provincial rules that limit the amount of land that non-residents can purchase.

“The concern that has been developing ... is that the Lands Protection Act may have been breached by having people and organizations who are connected with one another holding an amount of land that exceeds the allowable limits,” said the member for Borden-Kinkora in central P.E.I.

“It’s not independent ownership. It’s ownership for somebody else’s benefit.”

The result has been growing anger and suspicion in some communities, he said. “It’s had a polarizing affect,” MacFarlane said “The provincial government should have stepped in earlier.”

Earlier this week, the Coalition for the Protection of P.E.I. Lands released an open letter calling on P.E.I. Premier Dennis King to launch an investigation into foreign and corporate land holdings following up on a similar request it made in 2023.

“As concerns around land ownership and loss of agricultural lands continue to escalate both here and across the country, the coalition feels the need has become ever more urgent for an investigation,” the letter says, adding that the Island has been losing a great deal of agricultural land to residential development.

“On P.E.I., 38 acres are lost every day or approximately 14,000 acres every year,” the group says, adding that farmland prices have doubled in the past five years.

The letter then takes aim at “Buddhist land acquisitions” in eastern P.E.I., saying they have “added anger and divisiveness to the whole issue of who really controls the land .... It is time to lift the curtain on who controls P.E.I. lands.”

Meanwhile, Myers also announced community engagement sessions will be held this spring on a new provincewide land-use plan. The consultations will include interviews with municipal leaders and staff, public meetings and opportunities for written submissions.

The province has already produced a “State of the Island” report, which is available online.

As well, the Island’s Progressive Conservative government says the Institute of Island Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island will review land-use planning in other Island jurisdictions, and the province is also reviewing the Municipal Government Act.

-By Michael MacDonald in Halifax with files from Hina Alam in Fredericton

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 13, 2025.