B.C. Premier David Eby said the B.C. Supreme Court’s assurance that the Cowichan Aboriginal title case wouldn’t affect private landowners and didn’t require their submissions or inclusion as parties “turned out not to be the case.”
Eby made the comments Nov. 3 during an unrelated press conference, amid concerns from the City of Richmond that the Aug. 7 Cowichan ruling may place the “validity” of fee-simple private ownership into question in the affected area of about 7.5 square kilometres around Richmond’s Lulu Island.
“The … court assured us that they would make a decision that didn’t affect landowners in the claim area so they didn’t have to be served, they didn’t have to be told about the case, that it was going ahead in court. Unfortunately, that obviously turned out not to be the case,” Eby said Nov. 3….