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Lorne Gunter: Poilievre calls for federal action on cloudy Indigenous land title developments

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On Thursday, federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre called on the Liberal government to take action to protect private property rights in B.C. and across Canada. He was absolutely right to do so.

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Poilievre explained that Canadians need the federal government, to “make it clear that the federal government’s position is that fee-simple property takes priority over all of the other claims.”

“Two,” Poilievre went on, “we need to ensure that all future agreements that the government signs with First Nations clearly and explicitly lay out that fee-simple private property is protected and has seniority over all other title.”

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As part of a four-point plan to strengthen private-property rights after recent court cases and federal land agreements, Poilievre said, “the prime minister must announce a full and comprehensive plan to protect private property rights across British Columbia.”

The Opposition leader pointed out it’s been almost a year since a B.C. Superior Court judge awarded a large section of the Vancouver-area City of Richmond — including approximately 150 homes, scores of businesses and a golf course — to the Cowichan Tribes of Vancouver Island. The tribes had at one time used the 800-acre parcel as a summer fishing camp, which the judge said made the area subject to Aboriginal title and all other titles, “defective and invalid.”

Despite the Cowichan Tribes insistence that it has no intention of stripping private title holders of their property, lenders have already begun making refinancing of mortgages difficult amidst the uncertainty.

Poilievre’s fourth demand of the Mark Carney government is that it “convene a parliamentary committee that will immediately begin study on how we can take political, legal and constitutional steps necessary to protect people’s homes and land.”

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It’s not wrong to fear for the future of private property in British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada.

In addition to the court ruling about 5.7 square kilometres in Richmond, in February the federal government signed an agreement with the 1,300-member Musqueam First Nation giving the band undefined title over much of Greater Vancouver. The deal did not become public until March.

The deal gives the Musqueam rights over the homes of nearly three million people in Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, New Westminster, Delta, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Surrey … and Coquitlam,” plus the University of British Columbia and Vancouver International Airport.

And while the First Nation and the federal government have both said the deal does not give the Musqueam title that supersedes private-property rights, the legal wording of the agreement clearly states that “Musqueam has Aboriginal rights, including title, within their traditional territory and establishes a framework for incremental implementation of rights.”

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Sounds like title to me. Maybe not right away, but over time.

I doubt Poilievre will get very far with the federal Liberals or with the B.C. NDP government of Premier David Eby.

The feds, after all, signed the Musqueam agreement, so they are going to be weak defenders of private property.

And the B.C. NDP will be even worse.

Ottawa and the B.C. government have appealed the Richmond ruling. But that could be just for political show. It remains to be seen whether lawyers for either government will strenuously object to last August’s decision.

What’s more, the B.C. government enthusiastically adopted the U.N.’s Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous people which gives Indigenous groups title over their traditional lands, even if they were ceded to governments in treaties.

A provincial law passed by the Eby government also, effectively, gives First Nations a veto over most development in B.C. — mines, pipelines, highways, ports, power lines and so on.

The Eby government considered amending this law following the Richmond decision, but the reaction of First Nations was immediate and severe that the NDP backed down.

The Liberal government, particularly once it receives its majority, will be equally unwilling to rankle First Nations.

Just wait and see what happens to development and investment in Canada when Aboriginal title applies to more than just B.C.

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