Comment: Richmond land decision creates economic uncertainty

https://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comment-richmond-land-decision-creates-economic-uncertainty-11136069

Re-printed without permission.

The letter from Henri Rogers sums up very nicely the current situation. Thank You Henri.

We have been conditioned to accept the inevitable transfer of collective and private ownership to Indigenous people.

Warehouses and industrial land in the area of southeastern Richmond that the courts have ruled belongs to four of the five First Nations that make up the Cowichan peoples. NICK PROCAYLO, PNG

A commentary by a Saanich resident.

I am not astonished about the recent Supreme Court decision granting the Cowichan Tribe title over a large swath of land in Richmond, including privately owned property.

The NDP government has been moving toward this since it came to power in 2017.

It started with social engineering efforts such as beginning all government meetings, and now most public presentations, with Indigenous land recognition recitals: “We are holding this event today on the traditional territories of the ___ peoples.” In the past couple of years, the term “unceded territories” was introduced.

We have been conditioned to accept the inevitable transfer of collective and private ownership to Indigenous people.

The preceding four or five years was interspersed by government giving away or buying tracts of land to hand over to Indigenous groups in locations in and around Greater Victoria and elsewhere in B.C.

In 2023, the government ousted the Ladysmith Maritime Society from the Ladysmith Marina and transferred the land and foreshore valued at $28.5 million to the Stz’uminus Indigenous group. The government even threw in another $10 million for “clean-up” of Crown land. The Ladysmith ­Maritime Society, a non-profit, had been operating the marina and enhancing the Ladysmith ­waterfront since 1985.

In 2024, the government formally recognized ­Indigenous title to the entirety of Haida Gwaii (formerly Queen Charlotte Islands) giving the Indigenous group control of but not title to the privately owned properties there … and now this recent ruling.

One sees the progression.

Some will argue that Indigenous groups were here first so they are entitled to all the land. That strikes me as something akin to children squabbling over a toy and who had it first.

would argue that, on the human time scale, 10,000 years of Indigenous occupation is a mere blink. Furthermore, occupation is not ownership.

At the time of first contact, the notion of ownership was basic and not couched in law. You could only truly “own” land if you were so inclined and had the ability to defend it.

Another consideration: estimates vary due to numerous factors (most significantly the lack of evidence such as written records) that puts the total Indigenous population of North America at the time of European contact at between 2.5 million and seven million. There are 24,709,000 square kilometres in North America — meaning the land was almost empty and unclaimed in any meaningful way.

Everyone in B.C. is an immigrant or descended from ­immigrants.

The real point is that we are all here now and we have to find a way to coexist.

But if reconciliation means transfer of all “unceded” private/Crown lands to Indigenous ownership, then the sovereignty of the Crown no longer exists; government has no authority.

Moreover, we face economic ruin. Who will now invest in B.C. with this myriad uncertainty?

What will happen to the value of your house or business? Will Indigenous groups have the ability to impose a tax upon us? Taxation without representation?

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think the vast majority of ­British Columbians will put up with this.