Private landowner launches rare bid to reopen Cowichan Tribes land case

VANCOUVER — Lawyers for Montrose Property Holdings Ltd., the largest private landowner caught up in the landmark Cowichan Tribes title ruling, were back in BC Supreme Court on Monday arguing for the rare step of reopening the case so the company can defend its fee-simple interests.Montrose, which controls roughly 120 hectares of industrial land within the approximately 300-hectare area declared to be subject to Cowichan title, says it was never named a party during the original 513-day trial.The company’s application is supported by the federal and provincial governments as well as the City of Richmond. All three say Montrose should have the chance to present evidence that was not before the court during the original proceeding.There are now a total of eight parties involved in the litigation.Cowichan Tribes counsel David Rosenberg called the move an abuse of process that would make the already lengthy litigation unmanageable.“The Cowichan Nation has achieved a great victory after seeking the return of their homeland for more than 150 years,” Rosenberg said in a statement provided to the Globe and Mail..“If all parties who claim an interest in the lands were to be added as parties to the case, it would make the proceedings unmanageable, which would not be in the interests of the administration of justice.”Young’s ruling found that the Cowichan Peoples hold Aboriginal title to their historic summer village site of Tl’uqtinus on Lulu Island in Richmond. It declared many Crown and municipal fee-simple titles in the area “defective and invalid.”The Montrose hearing comes as the Cowichan decision continues to fuel political debate in Ottawa..In the House of Commons on Monday morning, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and his caucus pressed the government to repeal Attorney General Litigation Guideline #14.That guideline, a legacy carryover from the days of Jody Wilson-Raybould as federal attorney general, instructs government lawyers to plead defences such as extinguishment of aboriginal title only in limited circumstances and with senior approval.Conservatives argue the guideline contributed to the Crown’s relatively restrained defence at trial and has left property owners across British Columbia facing uncertainty. The government has appealed the ruling but has kept the guideline in place.A decision on whether to reopen the trial is expected to be rare but not unprecedented; Montrose’s filings cite five prior cases in which courts have exercised that discretion when a miscarriage of justice might otherwise result.

Private landowner launches rare bid to reopen Cowichan Tribes land case

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