The Law That Lets You Legally Steal Houses

Adverse possession is always a fun topic to talk about - I learned about it when my wife went to law school, and remember discussions filled with "what abouts" on the topic. As with any legal thing, the devil is in the details - adverse possession is not a straightforward "I took it so it's mine, yahaha" kind of deal.
A close cousin to adverse possession is the idea of eminent domain, which lets governments take your property under certain circumstances.

Squatters rights is pretty much non existent in Canada. There are laws against it, protecting the property owners. In BC it's simply straight up illegal. Other provinces.... kind of legal under some extreme circumstances, but chances are the courts will be in favour of the property owner. For the most part, it's considered trespassing.

I was involved in a case of adverse possession some years ago. The (by then deceased) previous owner of my property had encroached in his (eventually deceased) neighbor's property a few decades prior. She never appeared to have objected, and was living in a nursing home by the time I arrived. I bought the property with the understanding of the boundary lines as described by the deceased owner's widow, who didn't know about the encroachment (or forgot). Years later, the neighbor's heirs (who knew about the encroachment) sold the land to a guy who enforced the original boundaries, and bulldozed my driveway and flower gardens. A surveyor, city officials, and my lawyer said I had an ironclad case to get that land, but admitted it would take years in court and thousands of dollars. Instead, I sold the house (at a loss) and moved away.