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last mo.

B.C. Supreme Court Recognizes Cowichan Title Over 800 Acres on Lulu Island

An 18-month suspension opens a window for negotiations over land transfers, fishing rights, appeals, transitional arrangements after existing titles were declared invalid.

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Every summer, the Cowichan travelled to their Lands of Tl’uqtinus, in what is now modern-day Richmond, to fish and harvest resources.
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The B.C. Supreme Court is shown in Vancouver, B.C., on Monday June 1, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Overview

  • Justice Barbara Young’s 863-page ruling affirms Cowichan title to 800 of the 1,850 claimed acres and an Aboriginal right to fish for food on the Fraser River’s south arm.
  • The court declared land titles held by Canada, British Columbia, the City of Richmond and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority within the claim area to be defective and invalid.
  • The declaration is stayed for 18 months to give Cowichan, government bodies and other claimants time to negotiate land transfers and resource-use arrangements.
  • Defendants—including federal and provincial governments, Richmond, the port authority, Musqueam and Tsawwassen First Nations—face a 30-day deadline to appeal or enter negotiations.
  • The precedent-setting verdict wraps up Canada’s longest trial and bolsters momentum for Indigenous land-claim adjudication and reconciliation processes.