B.C. presses its case ahead of Cowichan land meeting

VICTORIA — British Columbia Attorney General Niki Sharma says the provincial government’s argument in the landmark Cowichan Tribes land case was that Aboriginal and fee-simple title “cannot co-exist” on the same land in their full form.

Sharma says there’s “perhaps nothing more important” to land owners than the security of their title, quoting directly from B.C.’s arguments in the case, which it lost.

The government is pushing its perspective on the case ahead of a meeting organized by the City of Richmond for landowners whose properties could be affected by the ruling.

In August, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled the tribes have Aboriginal title over about 750 acres on the Fraser River, that Crown and city titles on the land are defective and invalid, and the granting of private titles on it by the government unjustifiably infringed on the Cowichan title.

The government also arranged a technical briefing on the case for journalists ahead of this evening’s meeting.

Richmond, which has joined B.C. and others appealing the decision, scheduled the meeting to discuss the implications of the ruling, telling more than 150 property owners in a letter that the ruling “may compromise the status and validity” of their ownership.

David Rosenberg, the lawyer for the Cowichan Tribes, has warned against applying the case to all fee-simple lands across British Columbia or Canada, but the technical briefing described B.C.’s argument as focused on protecting the integrity of private property across the province.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2025.