The contentious issue of the Cowichan Nation court ruling brought out all three faces of the B.C. NDP government on Tuesday: the one that talks tough behind closed doors, the one that equivocates to the media and the one that gaslights you by saying the opposite.

The day began with a briefing by government officials on what the province had argued in BC Supreme Court in August (unsuccessfully), before a justice awarded the Cowichan Nation a declaration of Aboriginal title on more than 800 acres of land in the City of Richmond.

The precedent-setting ruling placed Aboriginal title above private property rights and has put New Democrats on the defensive. More than 140 Richmond residents and businesses are now wondering if they actually own their properties the way they think they do, and many gathered Tuesday night for a fiery information session featuring the mayor and other elected officials.

New Democrats on Tuesday wanted to counter opponents by walking the media through their years of court arguments—on background, using officials that could not be identified or quoted directly.

Protected by that cloak of anonymity, the government was able to make arguments we would learn later in the day its elected officials were entirely unwilling to say out loud or put their names behind.

“Aboriginal title and fee-simple title both confer rights of exclusive use and occupation of land,” read a section of the government’s court argument, highlighted by the official.

“As a result, those interests cannot co-exist in the same land, in their full form, at the same time.”

The passages were a blunt look into how the NDP government really feels about Aboriginal title—something it has publicly claimed for........

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