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VICTORIA — The British Columbia government and chiefs from the Cowichan Nation say they’ve begun negotiations after a landmark court ruling awarded Aboriginal title over a swath of property in Richmond, B.C., last year.

The talks come even as both parties pursue appeals in the legal action that recognizes Aboriginal title over about 300 hectares of land along the Fraser River in a decision that set off concerns about the impact on private land ownership.

A joint statement from the province and the Cowichan says the nation “respectfully did not seek to invalidate” private ownership of the land, but went to court to compel the province to “negotiate in good faith the reconciliation” of private titles granted by government of its former village site. 

Premier David Eby told a separate news conference that the court-ordered negotiations are “hopefully” reassuring to land owners in the claim area that their ownership is “not in question.”

Eby said the province is still appealing the court’s decision, but called the joint statement a “pleasant development.”

The ruling last August says Crown and city titles within that area are defective and invalid, and that the Crown’s granting of private titles on the land “unjustifiably” infringed on the Cowichan title.

Eby said those who own properties in the claim area have been “seriously worried” about the implications of the court ruling, and the negotiations are part of a potential “path forward that works for everybody.”

“We are appealing, we disagree with the trial decision, we are seeking a stay of the trial decision. But at the end of the day, the provincial government is not going anywhere, the Cowichan First Nation isn’t going anywhere, we’re going to have a relationship after this case,” Eby said.

“We have to talk and in fact the court has required us to talk.”

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