The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada was in B.C. on Thursday and says the federal government needs to take a stand to protect private property rights.
Pierre Poilievre laid out a four-point plan that Conservatives want to see implemented.
“We need the federal government, Mark Carney, to change his mind and reverse the directive, making it clear that the federal government’s position is that fee-simple property takes priority over all of the claims,” he said.
“Two, we need to ensure that all future agreements that the government signs with First Nations clearly and explicitly lay out that fee-simple private property is protected and has seniority over all other title. Three, the prime minister must announce a full and comprehensive plan to protect private property rights across British Columbia. It’s been almost a year since this ruling.
“Four, we need to convene a parliamentary committee that will immediately begin study on how we can take political, legal and constitutional steps necessary to protect people’s homes and land.”
B.C.’s Supreme Court decided last year that the Cowichan Nation has title over a portion of southeast Richmond.
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The federal and provincial governments are appealing the B.C. Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of the Quw’utsun Nation, or Cowichan Nation, that found it had “established Aboriginal title” to more than 5.7 square kilometres of land on the Fraser River in Richmond, south of Vancouver.
The City of Richmond has also joined the appeal.
The ruling declared Crown and city titles on the land are “defective and invalid,” and the granting of private titles on it by the government unjustifiably infringed on the Cowichan title.
That has created confusion and anger among homeowners in the affected area, despite the Cowichan Tribes insisting it has no intention of stripping private title holders of their property.
“Almost all of B.C. is on unceded territory, meaning that it has never been covered by a treaty that cedes the land to new owners,” Poilievre said.
“The B.C. Treaty Commission has accepted statements of intent to negotiate with B.C. First Nations covering essentially the entire province. If those groups meet the Cowichan threshold, the implication for private property across all of British Columbia are massive. There could be, there are already active claims that go beyond Richmond that cover as much as 12,500 kilometres of land.”
The Musqueam First Nation has also signed three agreements with the federal government recognizing Aboriginal rights in Metro Vancouver.
“What the agreement does not say is that fee-simple property is protected,” Poilievre said.
“That, as a result, land boundaries are undefined, the interaction with existing private titles is unresolved. The government claim that the deal does not affect private property, but law expert Tom Isaac reveals that is not true, in his words, to say private property is not affected by the agreement is not accurate. What is accurate is that we don’t know if the agreement affects private property.”
Poilievre says the federal government needs to publish a plan within 30 days to protect property rights.
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