The case heard before B.C. Supreme court judge Barbara Young found that the Cowichan Tribes were entitled to fishing rights on the Fraser River as well as seven-and-a-half square kilometers of land that once held their summer village.

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Dog days of summer. Not much happening in Indian country until a bombshell exploded in British Columbia. At least for some it was a bombshell. For the rest of us, it was a legal decision that broke new ground.

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The case heard before B.C. Supreme court judge Barbara Young found that the Cowichan Tribes were entitled to fishing rights on the Fraser River as well as seven-and-a-half square kilometres of land that once held their summer village. The trial lasted a marathon of 513 days.

In her written decision, the judge concluded the Crown relinquished title to the land in 1871 without the consent of the Cowichan people. Justice Young further ruled that the land titles issued by the Canadian and B.C. governments were “defective and invalid” since they infringed on the Cowichan title to the lands in question. The land in question contains a mix of privately held land and Crown port holdings.

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