Brodie argued that property owners were not fairly represented in the legal process: “If you’re going to talk about someone’s land, surely they have the right to be there, to have representation, to speak about it,” he said.
The August decision, delivered by Justice Barbara Young after what has been called the longest trial in Canadian history, found that Crown grants of private land—known as fee simple—did not extinguish Cowichan Aboriginal title and instead constituted “unjustifiable infringements.”
The court suspended its declaration for 18 months to allow for negotiations between the Cowichan, federal government, and the City of Richmond.
While the Cowichan Tribes have stated they do not seek to displace ordinary British Columbians, chief negotiator Robert Morales said, “There are corporate interests that are part of what we’re disputing. Corporations, or the governments who have privately held land as a corporation or as a government, I think that’s a different issue.”
The City of Richmond and the provincial government have both filed notices of appeal. BC attorney general Niki Sharma said in a statement, “This ruling could have significant unintended consequences for fee simple private property rights in BC that must be reconsidered by a higher court.”
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