Cowichan Land Ruling and Musqueam Aboriginal Title Agreement

• With land-claim uncertainty, some B.C. appraisers are adding this to real estate assessments

  ""We assume the subject property is not subject to a land claim and they are valued as if unencumbered," the appraisal said.
  Vancouver Sun

  March 12, 2026

• The Musqueam Aboriginal Title Agreement: What Vancouver Homeowners Need to Know in 2026

  "Aboriginal title is a "senior" interest.

  The court held that Aboriginal title can burden fee simple land — the type of ownership virtually every Canadian homeowner holds. This means Aboriginal title exists as a legal interest that sits above, not below, standard property ownership.

  © 2026 Deeded Inc.
  March 3, 2026

• Adam Pankratz: Cowichan ruling is scaring away investors
  National Post
  December 16, 2025
• EXPLAINER: Cowichan Aboriginal title decision

  “The question is not whether Aboriginal title can exist over fee simple lands, but whether fee simple interests can exist on Aboriginal title lands. In my view, the law has evolved and the answer to that question is ‘yes.'”

  –Madam Justice Barbara Young

  Northern Beat
  August 18, 2025

“A businessman who expects his output to be stolen, expropriated, or entirely taxed away will have little incentive to work, let alone any incentive to undertake investments and innovations.”

— Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty (2012) by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson (Nobel laureates in Economics).