By Alex Walls, UBC News
The recent Cowichan decision was ‘rock solid law’ and concerns about effects on private property are unfounded, according to a new UBC paper.
In this Q&A, author James Hickling, adjunct professor in the Peter A. Allard School of Law, discusses the evidence in the case and identifies ways to move forward that benefit everyone.
Continue reading Cowichan decision is ‘rock solid law’, won’t affect private landowners, UBC expert says
(The first in a series of articles about Indigenous consent, property rights and the future of DRIPA)
British Columbia is currently navigating a widening divide. On one side, the courts are handing down historic decisions affirming Indigenous rights. On the other, a growing wave of anxiety over private property and economic certainty. Today, we look at the fallout from the Gitxaala and Cowichan Tribes decisions—and the political battleground forming around the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA).
These are actually three separate topics: two court cases regarding the duty to consult before registering mining claims (Gitxaala versus British Columbia and the 2025 appeal); a court case regarding the Aboriginal title to an ancient village site that was sold out from beneath the Cowichan Tribes (Cowichan Tribes v. Canada); and DRIPA, the provincial legislative framework that formally adopts and implements the the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)
Continue reading The Battle Over DRIPA & Land Claims
By Sonal Gupta, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
A BC government appeal of a court ruling recognizing aboriginal title to part of the Cowichan Nation’s ancestral land in Richmond will delay reconciliation and prolong generations of harm, the nation’s lead lawyer said.
“This land was where the nation lived together, where they harvested together, where they were defended together and where they were literally embedded in the earth,” said David Robbins.
Last week, Justice Barbara Young granted the Cowichan title to almost 7.5 square kilometres of their ancestral Tl’uqtinus village lands on the south shore of Lulu Island in Richmond, BC across from Tilbury Island. The largely industrial area, long described by the Nation as their traditional settlement area, includes land owned by the federal government, the City of Richmond, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and private holdings. The ruling affirms their constitutionally protected title and right to fish for food in the south arm of the Fraser River — after more than 150 years of struggle since the land was taken from the Cowichan during the colonial era.
However, within days of the decision, BC Attorney General Niki Sharma released a statement stating the province would appeal, warning the ruling could have “significant unintended consequences for fee simple private property rights in BC.”
Continue reading Reconciliation on hold as BC blocks Cowichan land win
By Julie Chadwick, IndigiNews,, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Surrounded by sun-dappled trees and the gentle rushing sound of Skutz Falls, a historic agreement to return 312 hectares of land to Lyackson First Nation and Cowichan Tribes was signed last week as part of an Incremental Treaty Agreement.
Continue reading After generations of displacement, ‘Vancouver Island’ lands returned to Lyackson, Cowichan First Nations
