VICTORIA — The British Columbia government hasn’t yet filed its grounds for appealing against the landmark Cowichan Tribes Aboriginal title case.
But that hasn’t stopped the government from trying to impress on the public that the case could be crucial to the fate of private land ownership in the province, with officials staging a technical briefing for journalists, writing an opinion piece and telling reporters in the legislature why they believe the ruling cannot be allowed to stand.
The information campaign came hours ahead of a Tuesday night 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.
Tensions and frustrations were running high at the public information meeting at Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel on Tuesday night, with affected homeowners peppering Richmond mayor Malcolm Brodie with questions.
The Minoru ballroom was overflowing with hundreds of homeowners, as well as dozens of people left standing throughout the hours-long meetings after failing to find seats.
During the discussion, everyone was given 2 minutes to ask their questions. Standing before the crowds, homeowner Kal Matt walked to the microphone and asked Brodie: “Why did you not warn us earlier?” and “Why don’t you tell us sooner?”
Matt’s questions were greeted with a round of applause from audiences, with many nodding heads and saying “yeah.”
Matt then asked Brodie: ‘If I don’t own my land anymore, why am I gonna pay the city of Richmond taxes?’
Brodie directed Matt’s question to city solicitor, Tony Capuccinello Iraci, who is also the general manager of law and legislative services for the city.
Iraci answered: “This gentleman; you are still the registered fee simple owner of your property and as a result, your obligation to taxes continues.”
“Now, the point of the information meeting, as you are aware, is that the city of Richmond is defending this claim as vigorously as possible to protect your interests in land, and the ask is that you ask the attorney general to protect your interests, you purchased fee simple property,” said Iraci.
Matt responded: ‘So, you just sent me a letter and told me this is a political thing. Reach out to your MLAs and make a big stink about this. I should not have had to come here and waste my time listening to you to tell me.”
As a sense of unease filled the room, Brodie said that “we are not having a debate,” while Matt said this isn’t a debate and he is asking a “legitimate question.”
Matt later said in an interview that he attended the meeting to learn more information, but it turned out to be a “waste of time” for him.
“He’s not telling anybody anything. He’s just making a political thing out of this. That’s all it was. Tonight’s a waste of time,” said Matt.
Growing up in Richmond, Matt said he has lived in the city since 1975, and when the Mayor’s letter arrived in his mailbox weeks ago, it left him with mixed emotions.
“I paid tax. I bought the place. Now, lo and behold, I don’t own my place,” said Matt, “Not fair.”
Hours before the meeting was slated to start, dozens of residents gathered in a parking lot across the street.
Rally organizer Steven Lai, a Richmond resident, said the court ruling left him confused and scared.
Lai owns a home and has about a million-dollar mortgage, but his home isn’t affected by the ruling.
“Could you imagine if I have spent half of my life working hard to pay my mortgage off, not to mention paying for the property taxes, and then only to find out that the property doesn’t belong to me anymore?” said Lai in an interview in Mandarin.
“Then why should I have spent so much time and money paying off the loans? This would be incredibly unfair to me.”
Sharma told reporters at the legislature earlier in the day that the government would continue to fight the case, “probably up to the Supreme Court of Canada,” to give British Columbians clarity about their fee-simple rights, the most common form of land ownership in Canada.
“We are going to continue to fight the court case at every level to understand how we bring that clarity,” she said.
“We have a team of lawyers at work right here, and I want to assure British Columbians of that, to help ensure that we can clarify the law and the issues with the law that we see in this court decision.”
She said the provincial government’s argument in the case had been that Aboriginal and fee-simple title “cannot co-exist” simultaneously on the same land in their full form.
Sharma said there was “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.
She also co-wrote an opinion piece in “The Vancouver Sun” with Indigenous Relations Minister Spencer Chandra-Herbert, saying they “strongly disagree with the court’s treatment of private property in this case.”
While Tuesday’s article argued that “you can respect Aboriginal title and protect private property,” it also said “the ruling raises new and complicated legal questions that must be clarified by a higher court.”
In the technical briefing, reporters were told of the province’s arguments in the original case.
The briefing quoted directly from B.C.’s case, saying both Aboriginal title and fee-simple title “confer rights of exclusive use and occupation” of land.
“As a result, those interests cannot co-exist in the same land, in their full form, at the same time,” it said.
The government argued that Aboriginal title “must be understood as being suspended” where lands are “subject to an incompatible legal interest” such as fee-simple ownership.
“This does not mean that Aboriginal title is extinguished, but rather that it is suspended for the time that the incompatible legal interest persists,” it says.
The City of Richmond, meanwhile, had argued for extinguishment, reporters were told in the briefing, with both arguments failing to convince the court.
Richmond, which is joining B.C. and others appealing the decision, scheduled Tuesday’s meeting for owners to discuss the implications of the ruling, saying 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.
The Quw’utsun Nation said Monday that public comments about the case by Premier David Eby, Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie and other politicians have been “at best, misleading, and at worst, deliberately inflammatory,” saying the ruling does not “erase” public property.
The nation, whose members include the Cowichan Tribes, said the B.C. government and City of Richmond were stirring up “unnecessary fears” among private landowners.
Lai said no matter how the appeals turn out, “the damage was already done.”
“I won’t buy a home in that area anymore,” he said. “I think this ruling is just the beginning, and I am worried it will set a precedent for other related lawsuits in the future.”
Colin Cai, who bought a farm on No. 6 Road in Richmond in 2016, said this court case may make many people lose confidence in the B.C. housing market.
Cai, who attended Tuesday night’s public meeting, said he spent about $40,000 to $50,000 annually to hire labour and purchase fertilizer to grow blueberries on the farm, and he initially planned to rebuild some homes on the land.
However, he doesn’t want to pour any more money into the land after Mayor Brodie’s letter sparked “shock waves and worries” in him.
“I wish it could be resolved as soon as possible,” said Cai in an interview in Mandarin.
In her August ruling, Justice Barbara Young ruled that “Aboriginal title lies beyond the land title system” in B.C.
The court found that the terms under which B.C. joined Canada in 1871 had limited the province’s “ability to sell the land without first dealing with the Cowichan’s interest.”
– With files from Nono Shen in Richmond
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2025.
Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press
