Indigenous Land Claim Court Ruling Precedent
Renders Private Land Ownership Defective
If you own residential, industrial or commercial property in Canada, pay attention. Your ownership is now "endangered" by this new precedent-setting Indigenous land claim ruling, currently under appeal to a higher court. Trillions in real estate assets are at risk as this ruling created enormous uncertainty for all existing owners and future property purchasers. This will take years to wind its way through appeals courts, leaving many wondering when is "Indigenous Reconciliation" over and at what cost to Canada? In British Columbia, anywhere from 95% (per the Wall Street Journal) to 110% of the land may be under competing, overlapping Indigenous land claims despite decades of negotiations and billions of taxpayer dollars spent on lawyers and consultants that have led to few actual treaties.
Read the alarming letter Richmond Mayor sent to hundreds of impacted homes and businesses telling them their ownership rights are in jeopardy and the informed legal expert opinion, Dr. Bruce Pardy (Queen's University Law). "The Eby government has sought to put title and control of B.C. into Aboriginal hands," writes Dr. Pardy. For 11 years during this court battle, why did no one in government or the Cowichan Band inform impacted private property owners? Since then, new title claims on more than half of New Brunswick, the entire city of Kamloops, BC and public lands in Coquitlam, BC have come forward.
While people were enjoying the last days of summer, the Supreme Court of British Columbia dropped this highly controversial landmark decision (August 2025) in the Cowichan Tribes v. Canada (Attorney General). Aboriginal title is now seen to supersede private fee simple land ownership, leaving all private and public property rights at risk.
Although the provincial government is appealing the ruling, legal scholars point out that both the federal and provincial governments instructed their lawyers NOT to argue that Aboriginal title was ever extinguished at the time of Confederation or when private land title was created. That's like going into court with one hand tied behind your back and blinders on.
Geoffrey S. Moyse, a retired senior lawyer who served as legal counsel to the Province of BC, advising six successive governments on Aboriginal law over more than 30 years, says what's being done by the BC NDP to non-Indigenous Canadian property owners is both intentional and unconstitutional.
Video features Dr. Bruce Pardy, a property and constitutional law professor at Queen's University. Bruce Hallsor, K.C. is a lawyer specializing in corporate and commercial law, real estate, tax and more.
-
This 800-page court decision -- the longest trial in Canadian history at 513 days -- focused on a competing land claim around Richmond’s south arm of the Fraser River and includes oral historical recollections. The Aboriginal title land in question encompasses $100 billion in infrastructure, impacting the City of Richmond, Crown-owned land and private property, plus ports and warehouses for Amazon, Wayfair, Canadian Tire, UPS, the Vancouver Airport Fuel Authority, and a golf course among others. The Musqueam and Tsawwassen First Nations, the federal and provincial governments, the City of Richmond, and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority opposed the Cowichan claim whose trial began in 2019.
-
The Cowichan Tribes were awarded constitutionally protected rights to those lands and waters, with the court placing Indigenous ownership above British Columbia’s private land title agreements. Of note, private property rights have no such protection in the 1982 Constitution and were declared by this BC Judge as "defective and invalid". Legal pundits argue we have enabled this conclusion following the Province of BC's enshrining into law the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIPA), unanimously approved by all BC's provincial parties in 2019.
-
The Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy's latest research confirms federal and provincial taxpayers have already given the Cowichan Tribes 1.3 billion dollars over the last 24 years, an increase of 176%. That's $227,223 dollars per member since 2001.
What does this Mean?
-
Private land owners can be evicted from their own property, wrote Geoffrey Moyse, KC (veteran Indigenous affairs lawyer). He also noted "The BC NDP government’s “reconciliation agreements” have taken a myriad of forms – which the public has largely learned about after-the-fact, if at all – from majority ownership in resource development projects to joint or sole decision-making and title over Crown and private land." Recent public park closures by First Nations and the BC government are additional examples of decisions made with zero public input.
. -
Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said: “The court’s decision to undermine established fee simple ownership of the properties under the B.C. Land Title Act within the identified area is unprecedented and compromises the entire land title system in British Columbia,” in Castanet News.
-
The Northern Beat quoted: BC Conservative leader John Rustad, a former BC Liberal minister of Aboriginal affairs and reconciliation, advising that Indigenous title and private property rights can’t co-exist overtop one another. “Losing private property rights on your home, your land… is wrong – reconciliation cannot be achieved by taking rights away from one group and giving them to another.”
-
“Owning private property with clear title is key to borrowing for a mortgage, economic certainty and the real estate market,” Premier David Eby said shortly after the decision (in the Vancouver Sun.) Recall that the BC NDP had long reassured the public that reconciliation with B.C.’s 200 Indigenous nations would not infringe upon private property rights. The BC Supreme Court judge Barb Young wrote in her decision: “what remains of fee simple title after Aboriginal title is recognized in the same lands?” Good question the public deserves to know.
-
BC NDP Attorney General Niki Sharma admitted in BIV News: “The ruling could have significant unintended consequences for fee simple private property rights in B.C."
-
Vancouver Sun BC legislative reporter/columnist Vaughn Palmer blasted the BC NDP for its secretive deals that lack transparency for property owners around both the Cowichan case and the recent Haida Gwaii decision that awarded the Haida Nation governance over private land, which Premier Eby promised is a "template" for future deals.
-
Worse, the BC Government has entrenched this, preventing it from revocation by a subsequent government, all without any public notice or approval. A legal and constitutional expert Dwight Newman added in the Vancouver Sun: “A constitutional entrenchment of a very significant agreement is done behind closed doors, with almost no transparency until a journalist managed to get a hold of a copy of the transcript.”
-
Private property impacts are sweeping, from homeowners who can't renew mortgages or insurance to investors, developers, and commercial businesses who lack certainty around land use permissions and sales, taxation, and governance. Some are questioning how much in compensation will be paid either by homeowners directly to Indigenous title holders or — by governments that are already broke — on their behalf.
-
Trillions of dollars are tied up in real estate of all kinds in Canada. Why isn't Premier David Eby being honest with the public by announcing his vision and execution plan for reconciliation? How about a reconciliation report card? How is it going: are we 10%, or 20 or 80% through his plan?
-
Federal spending (taxpayer funds) on Indigenous priorities has now topped 200 Billion over the last ten years, not including provincial land claim settlements, or municipal or regional government spending. This is paying all the legal fees for these court cases that are stripping away any private property rights and even giving Indigenous bands a veto on natural resources projects, contrary to what Canadians and British Columbians were initially told by political leaders.
-
For example, the Cowichan land claim decision alone involved 86 lawyers for all levels of government and the bands. Where did the taxpayer money go? Many Nations still lack potable drinking water or affordable housing. Did you know in 2024 Canada spent twice as much on Indigenous priorities than its own military?
Who is behind this "radical reconciliation" agenda?
Caroline Elliott, a Simon Fraser University professor specializing in Canadian liberal democracy, explains.
In her thoughtful column, she argues that the BC NDP, led by Premier David Eby, is pushing a deeply ideological and radical “reconciliation” agenda — guided by unelected advisors Doug White and Roshan Danesh who view Canada’s founding as an “original sin” needing redemption. This view demands “turbulence, rupture, sacrifice, pain, and the utter transformation of human affairs” to atone for colonialism hundreds of years ago.
Fundamental aspects of property law and societal structures are being discarded, often through secret deals, that are economically risky, legally uncertain, and socially divisive. Much of this harmful policy is derived from BC's enabling legislation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), taken from the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
Despite all the built infrastructure and improvements made to British Columbia and our nation by centuries of immigration, the BC NDP believe "non-Indigenous British Columbians are “settlers,” “colonizers,” and “uninvited guests" living on "stolen land".
Premier Eby created this mess. Do we trust him to clean it up?
Chris Gardiner, President and CEO of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association compares Premier Eby to an "arsonist giving a heartfelt speech about the importance of fire safety while the building he torched burns behind him." B.C. Premier Eby now criticizes recent court decisions related to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), he created and rammed through the legislature, calling them "overreaching," "unhelpful," and "toxic." The Cowichan Tribes court ruled Certain fee simple interests were "defective and invalid." Land Title Act protections do not apply to private property when Aboriginal title is declared across the province. This decision has left land or homeowners, farmers, ranchers, investors, and business owners uncertain about their property ownership rights. Four months after this significant ruling, the provincial government has yet to file a stay of proceedings or introduce legal protections for private landowners.
Email Premier David Eby, Prime Minister Mark Carney, provincial and federal Opposition Leaders and municipal governments with your thoughts. Should these decisions be subject to a referendum? Constitutional changes? Should Canada and BC repeal the United Nations legislation around Indigenous peoples that was enshrined into legislation without what appears to be any understanding of the consequences? Have these deals been done with enough transparent public input? Is it time for an audit? Have our courts become too activist?
Create your own email and send to the government leaders' emails listed below or use our handy form letter by clicking the button.
Government Leader Emails:
pm@pm.gc.ca (Prime Minister Mark Carney, Liberal Party of Canada)
premier@gov.bc.ca, (Premier David Eby, BC NDP Party)
Federal Opposition: Pierre Poilievre (Conservative Party of Canada-CPC) pierre.poilievre@parl.gc.ca
Jamie Schmale, MP CPC, Indigenous Affairs Critic Jamie.schmale@parl.gc.ca
Yves-François Blanchet, Leader, Bloc Québécois Yves-Francois.Blanchet@parl.gc.ca
Interim Leader, Don Davies, MP, NDP Party of Canada don.davies@parl.gc.ca
All House of Commons Members of Parliament here: https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en/search
BC MLA Opposition:
Trevor Halford Trevor.Halford.MLA@leg.bc.ca (Interim Leader, Conservative Party BC),
Scott McInnes MLA, shadow critic First Nations - Conservative Party of B.C. Scott.McInnis.MLA@leg.bc.ca
Dallas Brodie (One BC Party) Dallas.Brodie.MLA@leg.bc.ca, Rob Botterell (Green Party of BC) Rob.Botterell.MLA@leg.bc.ca, Elenore Sturko (Independent) Elenore.Sturko.MLA@leg.bc.ca
All BC Legislature (MLAs) can be found here if you wish to include your local MLA: https://www.leg.bc.ca/members/mla-by-community
Other provincial governments' member emails can be found online.
Share on Social!
Unite Don't Divide Us !
"I will never identify as a settler or uninvited guest. I am a British Columbian, a Canadian, a father, and a husband. We need to unite, not divide.”
Beau Jarvis, President & CEO of Wesgroup Properties, speaks candidly on reconciliation in BC and the divisive rhetoric of some BC Government MLAs. He fully supports economic reconciliation to lift Indigenous communities out of hardship – but slams its current implementation as ‘a disaster’ that’s divisive, polarizing, and making BC less investible when we need growth most.
Full episode on The Goodman Report podcast.
Experts & Opinion Leaders on Landmark Court Ruling & Secret Musqueam Agreement
The below table is a an up and down scrollable, list of expert views from lawyers, economists and pundits in news story links, blogs and youtube videos. At the bottom of the table, click through each additional page for more sources.
Source | Headline | Preview | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
Northern Beat | Northern B.C. Mining Projects Face Aboriginal Title Tangle | https://northernbeat.ca/opinion/northern-bc-mining-projects-face-aboriginal-title-tangle/ | |
Northern Beat | Pouce Coupe council calls on Province to protect private property | On Mar. 11, Pouce Coupe became the first municipality in British Columbia to formally demand the provincial government protect private property and be more transparent in negotiations with Indigenous groups.
“Given the uncertainty that has emerged, the province should clearly affirm and uphold the security of fee simple title and the private property rights of landowners in British Columbia,” said James Wall, the Pouce Coupe councillor who introduced a resolution calling on local government associations to demand the B.C. government protect fee simple property rights. | https://northernbeat.ca/news/pouce-coupe-council-calls-on-province-to-protect-private-property/ |
Northern Beat | Premier Eby lit the DRIPA fire, now he wants us to let him put it out | Chris Gardner compares Eby to an arsonist giving a heartfelt speech about fire safety while the building he torched burns behind him. | https://northernbeat.ca/opinion/premier-eby-lit-the-dripa-fire-now-he-wants-us-to-let-him-put-it-out/ |
Northern Beat | Prominent expert: B.C. land title agreements breach public trust, override private title | Says Haida title declaration flowed from partisan negotiations, legislation and a consent order without any public input, effectively cementing outcomes into constitutional concrete. | https://northernbeat.ca/opinion/bc-land-title-agreements-breach-public-trust-override-private-title/ |
Northern Beat | Secret Eby government land-use deals are expropriation by stealth, says business leader | Gardner says government experiments with co-title and consent-based decision-making are like playing Jenga with the economy's legal foundation. | https://northernbeat.ca/opinion/secret-eby-government-land-use-deals-are-expropriation-by-stealth-says-business-leader/ |
Northern Beat | Secret Reconciliation Land Deals Erode Support for BC NDP and DRIPA | https://northernbeat.ca/opinion/secret-reconciliation-land-deals-erode-support-for-bc-ndp-and-dripa/ | |
Northern Beat | Time to End the BC NDP's Ideological Nightmare and Repeal DRIPA | Expert argues Eby’s use of Article 26 assumes every square inch of B.C. is 'stolen' land despite constitutional law limiting Aboriginal title to a much smaller share. | https://northernbeat.ca/opinion/time-to-end-the-bc-ndps-ideological-nightmare-and-repeal-dripa/ |
Northern Beat | UBC Professor Says Dismissing private property worries as ‘confusion’ misrepresents reality | B.C.’s Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth recently penned a message to all British Columbians which essentially goes as follows: if only you unwashed masses were smart enough to see what he and his enlightened NDP really were up to, you’d understand just how right they are and how wrong you are
to be worried about reconciliation, property rights and the economic future of the province. | https://northernbeat.ca/opinion/dismissing-private-property-worries-as-confusion-misrepresents-reality-says-critic/ |
Northern Beat | Under DRIPA, co-governing with Indigenous leaders has begun | Geoffrey Moyse, KC | The BC NDP, starting with the late John Horgan, brought this muddled state of legal affairs onto themselves—both bills were introduced by David Eby when he was the Attorney General, says Moyse, a retired senior lawyer advising six successive provincial governments on Aboriginal law over more than 30 years. | https://northernbeat.ca/opinion/under-dripa-co-governing-with-indigenous-leaders-has-begun/ |
Northern Beat | Under UNDRIP: All Land Claimed is Land Owned, City of Vancouver’s UNDRIP strategy is an eye-opener, says former councillor Gordon Price | "Vancouver city council adopted its own radical strategy to reconcile with regional Indigenous groups, changes that have begun rolling out.
On Oct. 22, 2022, with little debate, less media coverage and almost no public awareness, Vancouver city council unanimously endorsed the recommendations of its UNDRIP task force... the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the City of Vancouver. If the strategy has gotten any attention, it has tended to focus on the aspects incorporating Indigenous art, culture and language into the city scape. But the more crucial task force recommendations undermine the powers of local government and its legal authority, putting the city’s tax base at risk, depriving its citizens of democratic accountability from their institution, and ultimately changing how residents are governed."
| https://northernbeat.ca/opinion/vancouver-s-radical-undrip-strategy/ |
Northern Beat (Substack) | Podcast: Legal Expert Tom Isaac on Cowichan decision | Highlights Isaac’s view that owners may need First Nations consent to alter or sell their homes. | https://open.substack.com/pub/northernbeatnews/p/podcast-tom-isaac? |
Northern Beat Podcast | Indigenous Law Expert Tom Isaac says no protection for private property rights in Musqueam Agreement | "The federal [Crown-Indigenous Relations] minister is on the record right now saying the [Musqueam] agreement protects private property. There’s not a word in the agreement that does that, not a word, not a comma.” —Tom Isaac | https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/podcast-tom-isaac-this-is-not-going-to-end-well-for/id1809563119?i=1000754762411 |
Northern Beat: by Geoffrey S. Moyse, KC, retired senior lawyer who served as legal counsel to the Province of BC on Aboriginal law over more than 30 years. | One-two sucker punch: BC, Ottawa bury province under Aboriginal title chaos | "It’s time for all citizens of this province to shout “Enough!” from the rooftops. And we must do so loudly our voices reach not just Victoria, but now Ottawa as well.
This will require action from across the regions and sectors; from business groups and owners to their customers; from neighbourhood groups, unions, city councils and professional associations to residents on radio call-in shows." | https://northernbeat.ca/opinion/one-two-sucker-punch-bc-ottawa-bury-province-under-aboriginal-title-chaos/ |
Norton Rose Fulbright Law Firm | British Columbia amends Interpretation Act so BC laws interpreted as consistent with s. 35 of Constitution Act and UNDRIP | These changes stem from the (BCNDP) "draft action plan developed under the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, which required the BC government to, among other things, take “all measures necessary to ensure the laws of British Columbia are consistent with [UNDRIP].” | https://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/en-ca/knowledge/publications/4da9f5cc/british-columbia-amends-interpretation-act-so-bc-laws-interpreted-as-consistent |
PHARA | Pender Harbour and Area Residents Association file Supreme Court Action to Strike Down DRIPA | PHARA files updated legal action to strike down DRIPA
In its claim, PHARA:
- Challenges the constitutionality of B.C.'s DRIPA.
- Questions whether a province can implement Indigenous rights in a way that conflicts with section 35 of the Constitution and Supreme Court jurisprudence.
- Questions whether a province can grant Indigenous governing bodies statutory decision-making authority over non-Indigenous persons under provincial law.
| https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JVp8pB37aZg6kgJiKLOCeY_HZDgSJEAL/view |
Public Land Use | Vaughn Palmer: BC NDP Evasion Continues on Haida Nation’s Aboriginal Land Title Case | https://publiclanduse.ca/news/b-c-ndp-evasion-continues-on-haida-nations-aboriginal-land-title-case-vaughn-palmer/ | |
Richmond News | Richmond warehouse developer claims it's 'significantly' affected by Cowichan Tribes ruling | Montrose Properties and its subsidiary Ecowaste Industries want the Cowichan Tribe ruling to be reopened so they can be added as a defendant and make submissions on issues pertaining to Aboriginal title on their properties.
The hearing will be held in B.C. Supreme Court in Victoria on Feb. 11 and 12. | https://www.richmond-news.com/local-news/richmond-bc-warehouse-developer-claims-significantly-affected-by-cowichan-tribes-ruling-11798593 |
Squamish Chief | Eby’s DRIPA reversal leaves voters with a policy few can understand | "The premier allowed himself to get painted in that corner. He went into a meeting with First Nations leaders on Thursday knowing they were angry and opposed to his amendments to DRIPA, but telling the public they were “non-negotiable” for the good of the province, to limit what he called immense legal liability facing British Columbians.
Hours later, he emerged to announce he’d backed off amendments after all. Instead, government would temporarily suspend certain clauses of DRIPA (which ones, neither he nor his top officials would reveal) for up to three years to allow his government to appeal the case all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada. Assuming the court even agrees to hear the case." | https://www.squamishchief.com/economy-law-politics/rob-shaw-ebys-dripa-reversal-leaves-voters-with-a-policy-few-can-understand-12103466 |
Substack | Aboriginal Law Expert Geoffrey Moyse: The deceptive UNDRIP scheme is unravelling in B.C. | David Eby's secretive bid to advance UNDRIP is falling apart under public scrutiny. Says he's never seen such incompetence and ineptitude | https://www.withoutdiminishment.com/p/undrip-scheme-unravelling-in-bc |
Substack | Constitutional law professor Dwight Newman explains Supreme Court of Canada private property rights decision has no bearing on British Columbia | The New Brunswick decision is not binding in British Columbia. Moreover, the New Brunswick decision says only that the outcome of Aboriginal title litigation cannot be a title declaration over privately owned lands, while it distinguishes the possibility of a “finding” of Aboriginal title that would otherwise have existed that gives rise to compensation. If British Columbia ends up having to compensate for all the private land in the province, there are still meaningful consequences ahead.
| https://lawforbreakfast.substack.com/p/understanding-the-leave-decisions |
Substack | Who Runs BC? Asks Former Globe and Mail Columnist | Canada’s Nuchatlaht First Nation has won the jackpot. This April, a British Columbia judge awarded the tiny band title to more than 210 square kilometres of Nootka Island, a densely forested island just off the Pacific coast.
The Nuchatlaht are now in charge. From now on, the logging companies answer to them. They, and not the B.C. government, will have final authority over forestry, roads, resource extraction, conservation tourism, and future development. The revenue streams could be substantial.
The band has only 168 registered members, most of whom live off-island. Fewer than two dozen live on reserve in their traditional homeland. They now control a territory twice the size of Vancouver. | https://mwentedotcom.substack.com/p/who-runs-bc |
Substack | Why Insurance Companies Are Saying “NOPE” to Land Claims and Leaving Homeowners Stranded | "People are contacting me at rapid speeds right now. Ever since I posted my video telling British Columbians to call their home insurance providers to check their land title coverage, my inbox has been completely flooded.
The messages all share the same chilling conclusion. Every day, homeowners across BC are calling their insurers, asking if they are covered in the event of an indigenous land claim or a structural title dispute, and the answer they are getting is a definitive, flat-out “NOPE.” | https://unfilteredwithkels.substack.com/p/the-bc-real-estate-trap |
Substack | 𝑷𝑹𝑬𝑴𝑰𝑬𝑹 𝑬𝑩𝒀 𝑫𝑰𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹𝑺 𝑾𝑯𝑰𝑳𝑬 𝑫𝑹𝑰𝑷𝑨 𝑫𝑰𝑺𝑨𝑺𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑴𝑬𝑨𝑵𝑺 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑻𝑬𝑫 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑻𝑬𝑺 𝑵𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑽𝑬 𝑩𝑨𝑵𝑫𝑺 𝑨𝑹𝑬 𝑩𝑳𝑶𝑪𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑻𝑰𝑺𝑯 𝑪𝑶𝑳𝑼𝑴𝑩𝑰𝑨'𝑺 𝑵𝑨𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑨𝑳 𝑹𝑬𝑺𝑶𝑼𝑹𝑪𝑬𝑺 𝑫𝑬𝑽𝑬𝑳𝑶𝑷𝑴𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑺.
| Veteran Constitutional Lawyer Dwight Newman warns BC that DRIPA is opening the doors to US native bands blocking and "co-governing" our natural resources projects. Alaskan Indigenous nations will now use the Gitxaala decision’s interpretation of BC’s DRIPA as they pursue a challenge to the Eskay Mine. While BC tried to consult these nations in the course of its environmental approval of the mine, there is now a court challenge suggesting inadequate respect for the rights of Alaskan Indigenous nations in British Columbia. Yes, you read that right.
| https://open.substack.com/pub/lawforbreakfast/p/breaking-foreign-indigenous-groups |
The Atlantic | Good Intentions Gone Bad: Canada’s reconciliation with Indigenous people went wrong | Says the Cowichan decision relies heavily on oral history evidence the judge admits is 'elusive' yet uses to justify billions in property claims, raising questions about security of landholding across B.C. | https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2025/12/canada-indigenous-land-court/685463/ |
The Atlantic | Good Intentions Gone Bad: How Canada’s ‘reconciliation’ with its Indigenous people went wrong | https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2025/12/canada-indigenous-land-court/685463/ |
