The government of British Columbia has announced it will be appealing a precedent-setting ruling on First Nations land claim handed down by the Supreme Court.Attorney General Niki Sharma said the province does not agree with Justice Barbara Young's decision to grant title to a portion of the land in question."British Columbia will be filing an appeal and seeking a stay to pause implementation until the appeal is resolved," she said in a statement on Monday. "We respect the court's role in our justice system, but given the significant legal issues raised in the recent decision in Cowichan Tribes v. AG Canada et al., we believe it must be reconsidered on appeal."Sharma warned that the ruling "could have significant unintended consequences for fee simple private property rights in BC that must be reconsidered by a higher court," and maintained that land claims should be settled via negotiation, not court rulings.The claim was filed by a coalition of First Nations in 2019 in an attempt to regain control over ancestral territory along the Fraser River that is currently owned by the federal Crown, BC government, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, Richmond, and private entities."In my view, aboriginal title currently lies beyond the land title system in British Columbia and the Land Titles Act does not apply to it," Young wrote in her decision. "It therefore cannot be said that a registered owner’s title under the LTA is conclusive evidence that the registered owner is indefeasibly entitled to that land as against aboriginal title holders and claimants,” wrote Young."
