Dallas Brodie is the interim leader of OneBC and the MLA for Vancouver-Quilchena.On August 7th, a BC Supreme Court ruling established aboriginal title over hundreds of acres of private property in Richmond. With a swipe of the pen, an activist judge eroded confidence in private property across British Columbia.But the Cowichan v. Canada decision should surprise no one. It is a Gordian knot, decades in the making. Today, the outrage is over Cowichan v. Canada. Yesterday it was Tsilhqot’in, before that Delgamuukw, and before that, to kick it off, Calder.This chain of "reconciliation industry" rulings from Supreme Court judges thousands of miles away in Ottawa set damaging precedents that led to borderline farcical outcomes like Cowichan v. Canada.One could easily lay it all at the feet of activist judges running amok, but this would only be part of the story. What about our thought leaders, think tanks, and politicians?.RUSS: BC First Nations want to be builders — government must get out of the way.Just the other week, Geoff Russ, a respected columnist for the National Post and Macdonald-Laurier Institute, wrote that, "Genuine reconciliation requires First Nations to be able to act like nations."This isn't from an activist judge, the CBC, or Grand Chief Stewart Philip, all of whom one might expect to see this type of rhetoric. It is straight out of the mainstream Conservative intelligentsia, so to speak. There are two very significant arguments laid out in that opinion piece. The first is that bands need to be able to "act like nations.".The implication is that bands are currently held back and lack either sufficient funding or, more likely, the freedom to function as true nations in this imagined utopia. Trouble is, it makes no sense to have over 200 bands claiming sovereignty in BC. And along similar though not identical lines, it makes no sense to entertain the idea of over 200 "nations" in BC. It is unworkable and unwieldy.Where have over 200 sovereignty claims led us? Where has a Constitution that enshrines aboriginal title but ignores property rights taken us?To Blueberry River & Cowichan v. Canada, of course.We have muddied the waters around our land base — 944,735 square kilometres of land, our home. The land is central to the nation's cultural, spiritual, and economic survival. This simply doesn't work; property rights must be clear.The founders of our province understood the need for clear title and authority across BC — although recently, we’ve been taught to reject them and our history."When British Columbia joined Canada in 1871, the province did not recognize Aboriginal Title and believed there was no need for treaties, apart from the already existing Douglas Treaties."This was the foundation upon which our amazing province was built, which benefits us all today and represents our shared heritage.A second major claim in Russ' opinion piece, the article's title, and a commonly shared narrative amongst the intelligentsia is that, "The First Nations of British Columbia want to be builders."We should be cautious about accepting this narrative as truth. It assumes facts not in evidence. One can easily point to numerous examples suggesting the opposite is true.In 2020, critical rail infrastructure was blockaded by indigenous protesters over Coastal GasLink; and just last week, Barry Penner of the Energy Futures Institute told Global News that bands have intervened in major energy projects over land claim issues. Not exactly the actions of builders..Facing erroneous claims that jeopardize our province’s future, the government of BC must actively defend British Columbians' right to use the province's energy and resources for the benefit of all. That is the duty and responsibility of a premier and our political leadership to the people.Rather than extolling the virtues of endless "economic reconciliation" (continuous transfers of cash and land into a broken system) while insisting that bands want to be builders if only the government would let them, we ought to focus on outlining how best to unwind the wreckage of the past few decades of legal activism and political surrender.What our government can and should push for is a foundation with one rule of law for all. A province that rewards productive work over rent-seeking behaviour.A level playing field for everyone. Clear and unequivocal title and property rights. A unified BC where a single legal framework governs all residents, regardless of their cultural, ethnic, or indigenous status. A province where you have the consistent application of criminal, civil, and administrative laws without distinctions based on group identity.It's nice to say "let's build," but it is not a small task to do so. Our forefathers accomplished this, and we can do the same. At a high level, to get BC building again, the Crown must assert its sovereignty and free our land base.Let's get to work.Dallas Brodie is the interim leader of OneBC and the MLA for Vancouver-Quilchena.