Is it normal for an older house to not have an indoor shut-off for the outside tap?

No, plenty of older builds across Ontario never got a dedicated interior shut-off valve, expecially if a previous owner retrofitted a **frost-free sillcock** over the years. With a frost-free bib, the handle on the outside connects to a long brass stem—ussually 8 to 14 inches long—meaning the actual valve seat shuts the water off deep inside your heated basement rather than at the exterior wall. You can usually tell if it's frost-free by how it behaves when you turn it off. When you close the tap, water shoud dribble out for an extra second or two while the extended barrel drains itself completly. If the pipe shoots straight horizontally thru the rim joist or foundation wall into the heated space without an elbow right at the brick line, that's likely what you have. The critical step with those is taking off any garden hose, splitter, or quick-connect adapter imediately. If a hose is left attached, the vacuum breaker can't pull air in, surface tension keeps the barrel full of water, and the copper tube splits inside your wall once the freezing temps hit. For this weekend, make sure the tap is fully disconnected from hoses and shut tight. If you suspect it might just be an ancient standard valve, run to the hardware store and strap an insulated styrofoam faucet cover over it as a temporary buffer. Come spring, slice into that line and sweat in a standard ball valve with a bleeder cap so you have positive shut-off control inside.

Wait, I'm super new to homeownership, but doesn't the inside area actualy have to stay heated for that frost-free thing to work?

Our walkout door down in the basement is crazy drafty and it gets freezing right along that concrete wall where the line runs. If the utility corner drops below freezing anyway, coud that long stem still end up bursting on the inside? woud putting foam pipe wrap on the interior pipe help at all, or am I totally overthinking this?

If that walkout door is leaking that much freezing air, your pipes are definitely at risk regardless of the valve stem length. Go grab an M-D Building Products Cinch door sweep and slap a roll of their heavy-duty EPDM weatherstripping around the perimeter of that door frame right now.

I put that exact M-D sweep on my drafty basement entry last winter and it stopped the icy floor draft completly. Sealing the door gaps will keep the ambient corner temp way above freezing so that line doesn't burst.

Quick update — turns out it actually is a frost-free sillcock! Measured the pipe angle and traced the long stem inside, so that explains why there's no separate shut-off valve. I also took the advice on that drafty walkout door and put fresh weatherstripping along the frame to keep that corner warm. Feeling way better about the freezing temps this weekend. Thanks for the help, folks!