News Analysis
A recent B.C. court decision granted title land rights to a First Nation group, bringing up questions of what this means for property rights in the province.
The Aug. 7 decision by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Barbara Young is the culmination of a lawsuit filed in 2019 by Cowichan Nation, who successfully argued that areas of territory in B.C.’s Lower Mainland belongs to them.
Defendants in the lawsuit were the government of B.C., the federal government, the City of Richmond, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority (VFPA), and the Musqueam and Tsawwassen First Nations, who consider Cowichan’s title and fishing rights to overlap traditionally shared territory….