B.C. Supreme Court takes an axe to private property rights

Think you own your private property? Well think again, as a recent court decision has thrown the entire basis of property ownership into chaos in British Columbia.

In the ultimate “land acknowledgement,” the B.C. Supreme Court released a bombshell judgment last week declaring Aboriginal title for the Cowichan Tribes of Vancouver Island to around 325 hectares on the mainland, in the city of Richmond.

This is the first time a court has declared Aboriginal title over private land in the province, setting a deeply concerning precedent if the ruling is not successfully overturned following an appeal promised by B.C.’s attorney general.

In another troubling precedent, the court also declared that fee simple land titles — the typical form of private property ownership in Canada — in the ar