gment:
Victoria, B.C.
August 7, 2025
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
[1]
The plaintiffs, on
their own behalf and on behalf of the descendants of the historic Cowichan
Nation, brought this action seeking a declaration of Aboriginal title to their
traditional village of Tl'uqtinus on the south arm of the Fraser River, and to
its surrounding lands and submerged lands. They also seek a declaration of an
Aboriginal right to fish the south arm of the Fraser River for food.
[2]
The Claim Area,
which the plaintiffs call the Lands of Tl'uqtinus, is located on what is now
the south shore of Lulu Island, across from Tilbury Island, in Richmond,
British Columbia. Today, land in the Claim Area is owned by the federal Crown,
the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority (VFPA), the City of Richmond
(Richmond), and private third parties. It covers approximately 1,846 acres of
land, as well as certain surrounding lands held by Canada or Richmond. See the
map attached to the reasons for judgment as Schedule B, depicting the Federal
Tl'uqtinus Lands and the Richmond Tl'uqtinus Lands.
[3]
Six defendants
opposed the plaintiffs claim: Canada, British Columbia, Richmond, the VFPA,
Tsawwassen First Nation, and the Musqueam Indian Band.
[4]
The trial commenced
in September 2019. There were a total of 513 trial days. The Court heard oral
history evidence and considered a substantial volume of historical documents
and ethnographic evidence.
Expert evidence was tendered
in fields including archaeology, socio-cultural anthropology, history,
ethnohistory, ethnogeography, ethnobotany, ethnoecology, genealogy, historical
geography, cartography, cartology and transportation economics.
[5]
The plaintiffs have
established Aboriginal title to a portion of the Claim Area, including a strip
of submerged lands, referred to in the reasons for judgment as the Cowichan
Title Lands. They have also established a right to fish the south arm of the Fraser
River for food.
[6]
This case raised
complex, and in many instances, novel issues. The following is an overview of
the Courts central findings:
The
Cowichan (Quwutsun mustimuhw) were an Indigenous people comprised of 11 local
groups prior to and at the time of European contact in the early 1790s
, and at the time the British Crown
asserted sovereignty in British Columbia at 18