Latest news with #LandClaim
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion: Canadians' legal rights should not depend on lineage — Indigenous or otherwise
A judge of the British Columbia Supreme Court recently found that the Cowichan First Nation holds Aboriginal title over 800 acres of government land in Richmond, B.C. But that's not all. Wherever Aboriginal title is found to exist, said the court, it is a 'prior and senior right' to fee simple title, whether public or private. That means it trumps the property you have in your house, farm or factory. If the Cowichan decision holds up on appeal, it would mean private property is not secure anywhere a claim for Aboriginal title is made in Canada. In November, a judge of the New Brunswick King's Bench suggested that where such a claim succeeds, the court may instruct the government to expropriate the private property and hand it over to the Aboriginal group. Don't dismiss these decisions as isolated or not having national implications. They are the logical extension of the Supreme Court of Canada's extensive Aboriginal jurisprudence. They are also consistent with what in recent decades have become core Canadian beliefs. Special status for Aboriginal people is deeply ingrained in Canadian culture and since 1982 enshrined in the Constitution. Aboriginal rights are widely regarded as the natural and proper order of things. In fact, they are the opposite. In a free country governed by the rule of law, Aboriginal rights should not exist. Invasion, migration and mixing is the history of humanity. The Romans invaded the British Isles in 55 B.C. and conquered the place about 100 years later, on their second try. By 500 A.D., Saxons had established themselves as the dominant power. In 1066, the Normans overthrew the Saxon kingdom. Today, British law does not have different rights for descendants of Romans, Saxons and Normans. The people are British. It wouldn't have seemed that way in 1066. When aliens force their way into a territory, the inhabitants understandably resist. They try to preserve the memory that the place belongs to them. But over centuries, things change. People mix, culturally and genetically. Descendants of inhabitants and invaders marry and procreate. Their offspring do the same. More people from other different places arrive and mix, too. Everyone born there is native to the place. The culture is neither what existed before the invasion nor what the invaders brought with them. No one alive remembers either. The culture in which they live is a distinctive derivative. Once upon a time, legal rights did depend on who your parents were. The ruler was the son of the ruler before him. If your parents were serfs, you were a serf, too. Lineage was destiny. But, like the culture, the law evolved. Eventually, everyone got the vote and the right to run for office. Everyone could own property and was free to buy and sell it. Everyone could marry whom they chose, and divorce as they saw fit. But in progressive Canada, lineage has become a constitutional imperative. Under Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution, the legally privileged group is Aboriginal, not European. Indigenous people have the same legal rights as any other Canadian citizen. But they also have rights no one else may claim. Depending on their group affiliations, they may have treaty rights. They may be entitled to tax exemptions. They may receive exclusive benefits. They may claim positions on governing bodies and in institutions reserved only for them. They may be entitled to procedures and considerations in criminal sentencing that no one else receives. Their group may be granted Aboriginal title on land from which other Canadians are excluded. This special status has not benefited most Aboriginal people. But it has enriched their elites who administer the substantial largesse that flows from government coffers. Aboriginal property is a group right controlled by Aboriginal leaders. Individual Indigenous people do not own plots of land on reserves or on lands subject to Aboriginal title. Dependency endures because governments and many Indigenous leaders are content with what has become the legal and constitutional status quo. Former Mount Royal University professor Frances Widdowson, among others, has argued that we can trace persistently poor social conditions experienced by many Indigenous people to a thriving 'Aboriginal industry.' Indigenous and non-Indigenous institutions and individuals — chiefs, leaders, consultants, managers, bureaucrats, politicians, lawyers and others — have a vested interest in the existing system of Aboriginal rights and status as special groups. Section 35, as interpreted by the Supreme Court of Canada, constitutionally entrenches this system. The recent Cowichan decision is just one of its consequences. Let's say the truth out loud. The British and the French conquered the territory now known as Canada. They weren't invited, and they couldn't have been persuaded to leave. They came with numbers and technology that overwhelmed the cultures that were there at the time, many of which were in chronic conflict with their neighbours. Many people on the continent were not the first inhabitants of their territories. Treaties made with the Crown made the best of a bad situation. Lands not surrendered by treaty were no less subsumed by the new people, culture and country. Terence Corcoran: We may never recover from the lockdowns Jack Mintz: Mamdani's socialist agenda will take a bite out of the Big Apple What is most important is that none of this matters now. Generations have passed. We are all Canadian citizens mixed together. Some people have Aboriginal lineage, some have British or French, some have both, and many have none of the above. It's time to repudiate the idea that legal rights depend on lineage. Purging it from the Constitution, of course, would be no easy task, and may prove to be impossible. But the crucial first step is to reject the legitimacy of different legal status. In a free country, laws apply not to distinctive peoples, but to people, period. Bruce Pardy is senior fellow with the Fraser Institute, executive director of Rights Probe and professor of law at Queen's University.
CBC
5 days ago
- Politics
- CBC
Cowichan title lands encompass multimillion-dollar mansions in Richmond, B.C.
Social Sharing The stretch of semi-rural land on No. 6 Road in Richmond, B.C., is home to blueberry farms, multimillion-dollar mansions and an 18-hole golf course. Those Metro Vancouver properties are all now encompassed by a landmark Aboriginal title claim that was successfully established by the Cowichan Nation last week. The ruling in B.C. Supreme Court confirmed Cowichan Aboriginal title and fishing rights over the stretch of land on Lulu Island next to the south arm of the Fraser River, where the nation historically had a summer village and members fished for salmon. Now it is occupied by Crown and City of Richmond holdings — as well as private properties that include a 10,600- square-foot home with 11 bathrooms and an official valuation of $7.78 million, other multimillion-dollar homes and the Country Meadows Golf Course. WATCH | UVic prof says Supreme Court needs to weigh in on case: Supreme Court needs to determine relationship between Aboriginal title and private owners: UVic prof 19 hours ago The ruling by Justice Barbara Young says the Cowichan did not seek a declaration that private titles in the area were "defective and invalid," unlike those for the land owned by the Crown and city that makes up much of the claim. But the judge ruled the province has a duty to negotiate with the nation when it comes to the private land, whose titles were granted in what she called an unjustifiable infringement of the Cowichan's Aboriginal title. Lawyer David Robbins, who represented the Cowichan in the trial that lasted more than 500 days, said Tuesday that the nation did not bring its case against private titleholders "and did not seek to invalidate their interests in this case." "It is the Crown in right of British Columbia that has the legal relationship with the holders of private fee simple interests. The Cowichan Nation has no direct relationship with those titleholders," he said. The Ministry of Attorney General said in a statement that it was "committed to protecting and upholding private property rights while advancing the critical work of reconciliation." The ministry said the number of private properties encompassed by the claim area was being assessed. Map includes mansions But a map of the Cowichan title lands that was part of the court ruling, combined with publicly available land documents, identify the mansions and other properties along Richmond's No. 6 Road, south of Blundell Road. Harry Hogler co-owns the Country Meadows Golf Course and lives across the road in a 8,900-square-foot home, featuring a fountain and a classic car in the circular driveway. Hogler declined to be interviewed but said he was aware of the ruling and was "not worried." However, B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma said on Monday that the case could have "significant unintended consequences" for private property rights in the province, and the government would appeal the ruling. That's no surprise to Robin Junger, a lawyer with McMillan LLP focused on Indigenous and environmental law. He said if the decision stands it will have "massive implications" and "could undermine the whole system of land ownership in British Columbia." "Although the court was only asked to give a 'declaration' in relation to lands held by the City of Richmond and the Government of Canada, the reasoning of the court isn't limited to those lands," he said. Junger said he believes the decision would likely be overturned on appeal and go all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. He said if he were a property owner he would not panic. Junger said a judge only goes by what parties argue in a case, adding he believes there are "reasonable grounds to pursue" an appeal on the key question of whether B.C. extinguished Aboriginal title when it issued private fee simple land titles, and whether it had the authority to do so. "If you look very closely at the decision, you'll see that the B.C. government, and in fact the Government of Canada, did not argue that these rights were extinguished. They declined to make that argument. Only the City of Richmond made that argument," he said. "So, I think there's a lot of fertile ground to follow on an appeal, and we'll see where it lands." WATCH | B.C. government to appeal ruling: Province to appeal B.C. Supreme Court ruling in favour of Cowichan Nation's fishing and land rights 2 days ago The province has announced plans to appeal last week's B.C. Supreme Court decision that found in favour of the Cowichan Nation's bid to win back fishing rights and title for a portion of its historic lands in Richmond, B.C. Claire Palmer has more. Some other residents of No. 6 Road whose homes are within the Cowichan title lands said they were aware of the ruling, while others were not. One resident arriving at a home valued at more than $4.1 million said Tuesday that he would "fight" the ruling. He declined to be identified or to give a longer interview. Nearby, an elderly woman was selling blueberries outside a large stone home. She said in Mandarin that her son owned the home but she did not think he was aware of the ruling. At one of the most expensive homes in the neighbourhood, according to B.C. Assessment, a woman who was driving out of the property said it was owned by a friend who was in China. She said she was unaware of the court ruling.
CTV News
6 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Cowichan title lands encompass multimillion-dollar mansions in Richmond, B.C.
A property on No. 6 Road in Richmond, B.C., that appears to fall within the boundaries of an Aboriginal title claim, successfully established by the Cowichan Nation, is seen on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nono Shen A landmark Aboriginal title claim successfully established by Cowichan Nation last week appears to encompass land occupied by a stretch of multimillion-dollar homes and an 18-hole golf course in Richmond, B.C. A map of the Cowichan title lands that was part of the B.C. Supreme Court ruling, combined with publicly available land documents, identify the mansions and other properties along Richmond's No. 6 Road, south of Blundell Road. They include a 10,600 square-foot home with 11 bathrooms and an official valuation of $7.78 million, as well as other multimillion-dollar residences and the Country Meadows Golf Course. The ruling says the Cowichan did not seek a declaration that private titles in the area were 'defective and invalid,' unlike government-owned land that makes up much of the claim. But Justice Barbara Young ruled the province has a duty to negotiate with the nation when it comes to the private land, whose titles were granted in an unjustifiable infringement of the Cowichan's Aboriginal title. The B.C. government says it will appeal the ruling, which Attorney General Niki Sharma said Monday could have 'significant unintended consequences' over private property rights in the province. This report by Ashley Joannou and Nono Shen, The Canadian Press, was first published Aug. 13, 2025.
CTV News
7 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
B.C. to appeal landmark Aboriginal title ruling over land in Metro Vancouver
The Knowledge Totem pole carved by Coast Salish artist Cicero August and his sons Darrell and Doug August of the Cowichan Tribes stands tall on the front lawn of the legislature at Victoria, B.C., on May 8, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito British Columbia's attorney general says the government will appeal a landmark Aboriginal title ruling that grants a claim by the Cowichan Nation over land on the Fraser River in Metro Vancouver. Niki Sharma says the government strongly disagrees with last week's B.C. Supreme Court decision granting fishing rights and Aboriginal title over the parcel of land on Lulu Island in Richmond, B.C. Sharma says the ruling could have 'significant unintended consequences' over private property rights in B.C. and it must be reconsidered by a higher court. She says in a statement that the government is committed to protecting and upholding private property rights, 'while advancing the critical work of reconciliation.' Sharma says the case is an example of why the province prefers to resolve land claims through negotiation, rather than risking 'considerable uncertainty' through court decisions. The ruling says land titles issued by the Canadian and B.C. governments to others 'are defective and invalid' as they infringe on the Cowichan Nation's Aboriginal title. This report by Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press, was first published Aug. 11, 2025.
