Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was in North Vancouver Thursday, hoping to generate support for his motion in Parliament later this month on protecting property rights.
Poilievre says British Columbians can’t afford a federal government that isn’t in their corner when there are land claims covering much of the province.
In August, a landmark BC Supreme Court decision granted Aboriginal title over several waterfront lots in Richmond, raising concerns over public and private property rights.
However, Terry Teegee, the Regional Chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations, tells CityNews the Cowichan Nation doesn’t intend to claim private property.
“We need to be clear that First Nations are not interested in private property, but rather to come to some sort of agreement with all levels of government in terms of unextinguished rights,” Teegee said.
“Much of this is under Section 35 rights, which are protected, and many court cases prior to this Cowichan court case or any other agreement has been upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada.”
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He says if there is no treaty or other constructive agreement, all levels of government are required to come to the table.
“That was the purpose of the United Nations Declaration Act, the Federal Act, and also the Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), which really paved the way for opening negotiations with First Nations.”
Teegee says private property and feasible land can coexist with the Musqueam agreement, and they are open for negotiations.
“The Cowichan have stated time and again that they’re not interested in private land, but rather in terms of reconciliation, reconciling their assertion of title to these lands.”
“On many of these title cases…the courts will side with First Nations, and we all end up in the same place, and the judge will say, work something out and negotiate something to a settlement of some sort with the First Nations. So that was the purpose of the United Nations Declaration Act and DRIPA, to bypass all this nonsense of going to courts and fighting.”
Speaking to media Thursday, B.C. Premier David Eby said once the court decision on the Cowichan land decision is made, the province can then appeal the decision.
“We’re limited in what we can do about the Cowichan decision until the trial court is done with their determinations on the file,” he said.
“Once that’s concluded, we’ll be filing our appeal materials. In the interim, we’re in a court-directed mediation with the Cowichan people, with the First Nations, finding a path forward.”
Eby says the government has been clear that it will never put people’s homes and businesses on the table in these negotiations.
Meanwhile, Teegee says it is disappointing the opposition party is planning to put forward a motion that would make it difficult to have any relationship with First Nations in Canada.
“There’s a lot of fear mongering in terms of private property, in terms of the Musqueam agreement,” Teegee said.
“The fear mongering is making First Nations a scapegoat to many of these issues.”
The federal Conservative Party is set to table a motion in Parliament over property rights, calling for the government to reverse last year’s decision, to be put to a vote May 25.
–With files from The Canadian Press