B.C. must defend the province’s longstanding system of private land ownership, and cannot allow for the uncertainty left by a new BC Supreme Court ruling on Aboriginal rights and title, says the attorney general.

Niki Sharma said the BC NDP government is appealing the precedent-setting case involving Cowichan Nation lands in the City of Richmond because the judge’s ruling that Aboriginal title exists above fee simple private land rights leaves too many questions about the impact on British Columbians who own property and businesses.

“Those are the arguments that we led in court, is that our Land Title Act means something, and having title to a property means something, and that's why we're appealing,” Sharma said in an interview.

“This decision, we think, it needs a higher-level court intervention to help us delineate that line clearly. And we'll be pursuing that in every way we can within the court.

“I think what the court has said in this decision leaves a lot of lack of clarity, in my view, about that line. So it's our job to defend our Land Titles Act, defend our property ownership regime, and........

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