Court hands Canadian Native tribe title to hundreds of private homes

Homeowners in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada are being told to attend a city meeting next week because apparently their property titles might not mean what they thought they did. They may no longer own their own property after a court ruling.

The meeting, set for October 28, follows a British Columbia Supreme Court ruling that gave the Cowichan Tribes Aboriginal title to about 7.5 square kilometres of land on Lulu Island, an area that includes private homes, farms, golf courses, and even port facilities. The August 7 decision said the Nation had exclusive occupation of the land before 1846, meaning Crown-issued titles were “unjustifiable infringements.”

This means that land people and businesses have legally owned for decades is now, technically, under Aboriginal title. This calls the ownership of land people purchased legally into question.

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said the city hand-delivered about 125 notices to residents and is hosting the meeting to help them “understand what’s going on.”

“It’s to make sure landowners are fully aware of the court’s decision, how we got here, and where things go from here,” Brodie told CBC News. Brodie said he’s worried the ruling could wreck the entire property system that underpins ownership in the province.

“It can totally undermine the land title program we have in British Columbia — completely take it apart,” he said. “This decision has to be aggressively appealed. It can’t be allowed to stand.”

The City of Richmond, Province of BC, and Musqueam First Nation have all filed appeals. For now, officials insist there won’t be any forced property seizures, though the court left the door open for negotiations, litigation, or purchases to settle who really owns what, CBC reports.

The Cowichan Tribes say they want to pursue shared governance, not immediate control over anyone’s backyard. Still, the ruling has triggered real panic among homeowners and raised questions about how far the courts plan to go with similar claims.

Even the BC Treaty Commission says it’s a wake-up call, saying “There are Injustices to resolve,” commissioner George Abbott. “Everyone prefers those be resolved by negotiation.”

Abbott added that the city’s notices could “ramp up concerns” instead of calming them. The Cowichan Tribes haven’t commented on the Richmond session yet.

The Indigenous Law Blog states that "The Court found the Cowichan exercised effective control over the Cowichan Title Lands prior to and as at 1846. The Cowichan were the only Indigenous group to occupy these lands, and they used intimidation and force to keep other Indigenous groups out of these lands. Thus, the Cowichan exclusively occupied the Cowichan Title Lands."