Ltol Billion: Inside Canada’s Contribution to the 2016

Venice Biennale
As part of ArchDaily’s coverage of the 2016 Venice Biennale, we are
presenting a series of articles written by the curators of the exhibitions and
installations on show. At a scale of 1:1 billion, the geological map of the
world reveals planetary scales of operation for the largest resource
extraction nation on the planet whose foreign policy is borne from legacies
as colony, as confederation, country, and now, as global resource empire.
In its divine, legal power to separate surface rights from mineral rights, the
royal domain of the government-the Crown-exercises supreme authority
over 95% of its territory making it the biggest landlord in the world. Not
surprisingly, its coat-of-arms, commonwealth, constitution, even its
parliament building look practically the same, it shares the same Head of
State-Queen Elizabeth II. As the last remaining royal monarchy in the
Americas, Canada is the brainchild of Queen Victoria II, the most powerful
woman in history, who grew the British Empire to unprecedented
magnitude in late 19th century