'Your home. Your property.': Poilievre presses Carney Liberals on Cowichan fallout

VANCOUVER — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre urged the Carney Liberal government Thursday to support a motion that would direct federal lawyers to put private property rights first in court and require Ottawa to publish a plan to protect homeowners affected by a landmark BC Supreme Court Cowichan Tribes v. Canada ruling.The motion, to be put to a vote on May 25, calls on the Liberal government to reverse a federal litigation guideline that bans lawyers from putting property rights first and instead require those lawyers to argue that private property comes before all other forms of title.The motion calls on the government to reverse a post-2018 federal litigation guideline that led Ottawa to abandon arguments for extinguishment of aboriginal title.It further demands explicit protections for private property in all future agreements with First Nations, creation of a special committee to examine the issue, and a detailed plan within 30 days on how to shield Canadians impacted by the Cowichan Tribes v. Canada ruling and the Musqueam Rights Recognition Agreement.The extinguishment argument — that historical Crown grants of fee simple had the effect of extinguishing prior aboriginal title — was advanced only by the City of Richmond at trial..The federal government had initially pleaded extinguishment in its defence but formally abandoned that position in 2018 under the Attorney General of Canada’s Directive on Civil Litigation Involving Indigenous Peoples. British Columbia similarly declined to advance unilateral extinguishment arguments.The BC Supreme Court ruling from Justice Barbara Young ultimately rejected the extinguishment and “displacement” theories put forth by the City of Richmond, finding they had no foundation in Canadian law and did not meet the clear-and-plain-intent test required to extinguish aboriginal title.It held that aboriginal title and fee simple can simply “coexist” — albeit with aboriginal title taking a "senior interest" — with any unresolved conflicts to be resolved through “reconciliation.”This claim has been contested by British Columbia Attorney General Niki Sharma, who stated that “Aboriginal title and private land title cannot coexist in their fullest form because each includes an exclusive right of occupancy,” and that on appeal the province will argue “fee-simple title has a superior title than everything else.”.Notably, the federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty described concerns about impacts on homeowners from the Cowichan decision, such as those forwarded by Poilievre in North Vancouver on Thursday, as “misinformation” advanced by Conservatives..The federal government, British Columbia, the City of Richmond and other First Nations with overlapping claims — including the Musqueam and Tsawwassen — are all contesting key aspects of the ruling in the British Columbia Court of Appeal.Appeals have been filed by all major parties involved in the case, with proceedings expected to take one to several years before any potential further appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

'Your home. Your property.': Poilievre presses Carney Liberals on Cowichan fallout

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