Jock Finlayson is senior fellow at Fraser Institute.
The blows keep coming for an increasingly beleaguered British Columbia. On the heels of a disastrous provincial budget that envisages a largely stagnant economy, historic deficits and a dizzying rise in government debt as far as the eye can see, comes news that the Carney government has concluded agreements with the Lower Mainland-based Musqueam Indian Band that promise to raise fresh questions about the status of property rights in B.C.
According to the federal government’s news release (dated Feb. 20), the Musqueam and the Government of Canada have jointly pledged to “recognize Musqueam’s Aboriginal rights and strengthen Musqueam’s roles in fisheries, stewardship and marine… management.” One of the three agreements goes further, recognizing that the Musqueam have “Aboriginal rights including title within their traditional territory,” and affirming that the parties intend to establish “a framework for incremental implementation of rights and nation-to-nation relations with Canada.”
The term “Aboriginal title” has acquired considerable legal and political salience in the province since last summer when a B.C. Supreme Court judge found that a different Indian band, the Cowichan Nation, held Aboriginal title to several hundred hectares of valuable land in and adjacent to the city of Richmond, a heavily populated suburb of Vancouver. The judge in the Cowichan case further ruled that where Aboriginal title comes into conflict with private property rights under B.C.’s land title system, the former must prevail.
The Cowichan decision has set off shock waves among citizen groups, the business community and much of the political class. The Eby government, despite its prior enthusiastic embrace of the notion of Aboriginal title, quickly denounced the ruling, promising to launch a speedy appeal. Several other parties also plan to appeal a judicial decision that—if upheld—will likely foster chaos and uncertainty regarding land ownership and property rights across the province. So far, the federal government has been conspicuously silent on the Cowichan case, despite the import of the trial court’s ruling.
Read the full article at Fraser Institute: Another blow to B.C. economy—Ottawa recognizes Aboriginal title