tensions flare at richmond meeting over cowichan title decision
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richmond mayor malcolm brodie speaks as hundreds attend the cowichan ruling information session at the sheraton vancouver airport hotel in richmond on october 28, 2025.
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tensions were high tuesday night inside a richmond hotel ballroom packed with hundreds of citizens concerned about the potential impact of a recent court ruling granting aboriginal title to the cowichan tribes over a portion of land along the fraser river.
several speakers who showed up to the sheraton airport hotel blasted mayor malcolm brodie and city officials for not notifying landowners of the case as it was unfolding over the years and had the potential to negatively impact property ownership.
“listen, they’re entitled to feel the way they feel. i would be very angry if i was one of those landowners and found that i woke up one morning and found that there was this aboriginal title, which affected my property,” said brodie to reporters at the end of meeting.
tony capuccinello iraci, the city’s general manager of law and community safety, said the city took issue with the fact that the plaintiffs in the case, the cowichan tribes, didn’t take notice of their claim to the affected landowners, although taking this step was rejected by the court.
several landowners with properties in the area asked about the potential for compensation and highlighted insurance and bank financing issues if property values dropped as the case is appealed, a process that could take years.
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homeowner kal matt, who has lived in richmond since 1975, walked to the microphone and asked brodie: “why did you not warn us earlier?”
matt then asked: “if i don’t own my land anymore, why am i gonna pay the city of richmond taxes?”
iraci said matt was still the registered fee-simple owner of his property “and as a result, your obligation to taxes continues.”
iraci went on to say the city was “defending this claim as vigorously as possible to protect your interests in land, and that you ask the (b.c.) attorney general to protect your interests.”
he also urged landowners to share details of their personal situations with the city as it works to bring forth “in layman’s terms, a pause, a freeze on the implementation of the decision.”
richmond mayor malcolm brodie speaks to the media after the information session.
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in august, a b.c. supreme court judge ruled that the tribes have aboriginal title over about 750 acres on the fraser river, that crown and city titles on the land are defective and invalid, and the granting of private titles on it by the government unjustifiably infringed on the cowichan title.
richmond, which has joined b.c. and others in appealing the decision, scheduled the meeting to discuss the implications of the ruling, telling more than 150 property owners in a letter that the ruling “may compromise the status and validity” of their ownership.
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colin cai, who bought a farm on no. 6 road in richmond in 2016, said the court case may make many people lose confidence in the b.c. housing market.
cai said he spent about $40,000 to $50,000 annually to hire labour and purchase fertilizer to grow blueberries on the farm, and he initially planned to rebuild some homes on the land.
however, he doesn’t want to pour any more money into the land after brodie’s letter sparked “shock waves and worries” in him.
the mayor said he has heard from business groups concerned about the possibility that financing for properties could be impacted because of the uncertainty brought by the ruling.
“it’s definitely a concern for a person who wants to use a home to get a mortgage that is a security for a loan and now all of a sudden, that is in question as to whether you can do that,” said brodie.
iraci said the city of richmond will be making legal arguments that aboriginal title and fee-simple title can’t coexist over the same lands. he said the city is arguing for aboriginal title to be “extinguished,” while the province and the federal government haven’t taken this legal step.
b.c. attorney general niki sharma speaks to reporters following the information session
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david rosenberg, the lawyer for the cowichan tribes, has warned against applying the case to all fee-simple lands across b.c. or canada. rosenberg has also said that he is “frustrated and disappointed” with what he calls “misinformation” about his clients’ groundbreaking case.
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a technical briefing by the provincial government earlier in the day described b.c. as focused on protecting the integrity of private property across the province. the government takes the position that aboriginal title is “suspended for the time that the incompatible legal interest persists.”
b.c. attorney general niki sharma also addressed the meeting tuesday and spoke about the city and province differing on views about calling for the “extinguishment” of aboriginal title.
“lawyers will have different arguments, but our arguments got to the same place. we argued displacement and suspension of aboriginal title when there’s a fee-simple title … the province has never been successful on a unilateral extinguishment claim. for decades, our arguments were based on what we thought would get to private landowners protection through the case law that was developed in the courts up until today.”
hundreds attend the cowichan ruling information session
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earlier on tuesday, sharma said the provincial government’s argument in the cowichan tribes case was that aboriginal and fee-simple title “cannot coexist” on the same land in their full form. she said there’s “perhaps nothing more important” to landowners than the security of their title, quoting directly from b.c.’s arguments in the case, which it lost.
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