07/27/2026
Corruption
The Haida Nation has every right to pursue title claims through the courts and prove them under the tests set by the Supreme Court of Canada. That is the proper process. What happened here was the opposite. The NDP government and Ottawa negotiated bilateral deals in private, then walked into court together and asked a judge to declare Aboriginal title over the entire archipelago, including fee-simple private land, without a trial on the evidence. Once that consent order was granted, the title became a constitutional right that ordinary legislation cannot unwind.
That is a profound change to the land base of British Columbia. It was done without the public being at the table and without the rigorous proof the law requires. Private landowners on Haida Gwaii now hold title underneath a constitutionally protected Aboriginal title interest. That is not a minor technicality.
I have said before, and I will say again: we need to pause these negotiated title declarations until the courts clarify the proper boundaries, especially after the Cowichan decision. The same approach is already being applied to the Tahltan claim over a vast mineral-rich territory in the northwest. If this template continues, we are not dealing with case-by-case recognition of proven rights. We are rewriting the ownership of large parts of the province by closed-door agreement.
Reconciliation that ignores the public interest, private property, and the evidentiary standards of the courts is not sustainable. British Columbians deserve transparency and a process that can stand up to scrutiny. This one does not.
