Opinion: Aboriginal title cases should take into account the taxpayer money paid to First Nations |
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Opinion: Aboriginal title cases should take into account the taxpayer money paid to First Nations
The $1.3 billion paid to the Cowichan Tribes over the last quarter century should be considered compensation for any lost lands
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In August 2025, after one of the longest trials in Canadian history, Justice Barbara Young of the British Columbia Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling declaring that the Cowichan Tribes hold “Aboriginal title” to 800 acres of land in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond.
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The 800 acres includes government land and 150 “fee simple” properties, the most common form of residential land ownership in Canada. In other words, people’s homes and businesses.
Opinion: Aboriginal title cases should take into account the taxpayer money paid to First Nations Back to video
The Cowichan Tribes, which are located on Vancouver Island, argued that they have a historic claim to parts of modern-day Richmond because their ancestors once visited and lived there, though as a summer fishing village.
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In court, the City of Richmond argued that Aboriginal title was extinguished because the Cowichans’ ancestors abandoned the land 150 years ago. Yet according to Richmond’s lead lawyer, lawyers for the federal and provincial governments were ”labouring under litigation directives that constrained their ability to argue extinguishment.”
Following last summer’s ruling, the provincial and federal governments appealed the decision — but they’ve been part of the problem from the start. And appeals can take years, with no guarantee of a better outcome for private property owners in Richmond.
This could have serious repercussions for the rest of the province. More than two-million fee simple titles exist in British Columbia. Homeowners and business owners who believe they own their properties may also be subject to claims made by other First Nations.
The Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark 1997 decision in Delgamuukw v. British Columbia paved the way for modern Aboriginal title claims, and because much of B.C. isn’t covered by treaties, large swaths of the province have been open to such claims.
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But when a First Nation such as the Cowichan Tribes lacks a treaty with the Crown, but has been paid vast sums of money over decades by federal and provincial taxpayers, should the courts not account for that money when assessing any land claim?
For the Cowichan Tribes alone, the numbers are staggering. According to our calculations, based on 24 years of Cowichan financial statements (adjusted for inflation to 2025 dollars), the Cowichan (with approximately 5,600 members) have been paid nearly $1.3 billion since 2001 for health care, education and more.
In the 2001-02 fiscal year, the federal and provincial governments spent more than $37 million on the Cowichan, and that number tripled to $103 million (or $18,359 per band member) by 2024-25. In total, over 24 years, taxpayers paid $227,223 per band member, or over $900,000 for a Cowichan family of four.
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Moreover, the Cowichan Tribes also received $229.5 million in 2024 through a four-year child and family services agreement with the federal and provincial governments, adding an additional $40,785 per member over four years.
With rare exception (such as when funding is provided for education instead of accessed provincially), Cowichan Tribes members receive such transfers on top of other benefits from the federal and provincial governments. A First Nations member living on reserve will also use off-reserve highways, hospitals and community centres, and benefit from national defence and so forth.
In other words, First Nations, with or without treaties, receive funds for selected services they might otherwise access off-reserve. They also receive funds other Canadians do not, such as “top-up” health care benefits for which most Canadians or their employers must pay for out of pocket. They are also eligible to access all other government programs and also benefit from living in a peaceful nation-state — i.e., Canada.
The question is not whether government should support Indigenous communities (although the support should be targeted and not counterproductive). The question is: absent a treaty, why is taxpayer cash ($1.3 billion over 24 years) not considered a substantial contribution (if not a full and final settlement) towards any Cowichan claim against the Crown for a “chunk” of Richmond?
In the meantime, while appeals continue over Cowichan, over two million fee simple titles exist in British Columbia. They too may be subject to cascading claims from other First Nations about other B.C. properties.
Mark Milke is the president and Ven Venkatachalam is the senior economist at the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy. They are authors of the study, “$1.3 billion in taxpayer funds to the Cowichan Tribes: Federal and provincial funding over 24 years.”
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