Canada is taking risks with its sovereignty on the West Coast, and the rest of North America should be paying attention. Neither the provincial government of British Columbia, nor the Canadian federal government are willing to name it.
The elected governments of Canada and BC are losing their authority over land in the province, by their own hand and those of the courts.
For the past year, Canada’s judiciary and governments have begun recognising what is called ‘Aboriginal title’ to various Indigenous groups in BC. In effect, these rulings make an Indigenous group the effective landlord of a parcel of land that they inhabited prior to colonisation.
The growing concern is not the existence of these well-established rights, but how governments are responding to them. Increasingly, provincial and federal authorities are entering into land-use agreements and decision-making frameworks that transfer elements of governance to unelected bodies, often without clear legal boundaries, public scrutiny, or consistent standards.
This combination is what creates the risk.
As authority over land becomes fragmented and less transparent, BC becomes more vulnerable to external pressure, and particularly exposed to the ambitions of China. Overlapping claims, negotiated consent regimes, and unclear jurisdiction do not just complicate development. They create openings. In a province already deeply tied to global markets, those openings are not going unnoticed.
BC hosts a massive mainland Chinese diaspora, vast commercial links to China, and business lobbies that push for deeper ties. The judiciary is now providing another opening. There is also more at stake than merely the danger of foreign interference.
China has spent a generation building factional relationships within divided countries and regions. They use their resources and influence to build self-serving, mercenary alliances to protect and expand Chinese interests. Canada is already rife with allegations of Chinese political and commercial meddling, and now there is confusion over who truly has sovereignty over land and resources in BC.
Read the full article at Spectator Australia: Do land claims present a risk to North American society?