Will First Nations seek Aboriginal title to more privately held lands in B.C.?

In 2016, the Kwikwetlem First Nation filed a claim in B.C. Supreme Court for Aboriginal title to about five square kilometres in Port Coquitlam.

The lands lie along the Coquitlam River, and include some provincial lands within the City of Coquitlam.

The provincial properties include the Riverview lands where a psychiatric hospital ran for nearly a century and was closed in 2012, the Colony Farm Forensic Psychiatric Hospital lands, and a wildlife area at the mouth of the Coquitlam River.

The claim by the Kwikwetlem, also known as the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm, also includes Metro Vancouver’s ƛ̓éxətəm Regional Park, formerly called Colony Farm Regional Park, and the City of Port Coquitlam’s Gates Park and undeveloped South Shaughnessy lands owned by the city and earmarked for future housing.

The Kwikwe