Even before British Columbians have come to terms with a BC Supreme Court finding of Cowichan Aboriginal title over private properties in Richmond, along comes Mark Carney to deliver another sucker punch to landowners.

How much more can we take?

Under three “deals” initiated by the prior federal Liberal administration in 2017, Prime Minister Carney’s government recently announced its intention to negotiate with Musqueam Indian Band to share governance authority, confer control over resources, and recognize an as-yet-unknown portion of their vast claimed territory as Aboriginal title land. 

That the area up for grabs encompasses much of Greater Vancouver is another staggering blow.

These three bilateral agreements, negotiated entirely in secret between Ottawa and the Musqueam, will have profound effects on the province and the Lower Mainland, and yet were quietly posted on a low-traffic Government of Canada webpage on Feb. 20, only hitting the public consciousness a week later.

Seven months after the Cowichan Tribes decision rocked property rights certainty, with still no protections in place by governments for landowners, the agreement has generated a firestorm of controversy for British Columbians, particularly Vancouverites. Musqueam’s Aboriginal neighbours—Squamish, Tseil-Waututh and Tswwassen—which have overlapping land claims, have said they are reviewing the agreement, while Kwikwetlem is pursuing its Coquitlam-area land claim through the court.

British Columbians at large have come to know only too well what it means to be subjected to secretly negotiated agreements between Aboriginal communities and their own David Eby government. In some cases, these resulted in recognizing Aboriginal title over vast land areas that could never have been proven in court.  

Read the full article at Northern Beat: One-two sucker punch: BC, Ottawa bury province under Aboriginal title chaos