Victoria, B.C. – The Cowichan (Quw’utsun) Nation is nearing the end of its trial in the Supreme Court of British Columbia to recover its government held lands near the mouth of the Fraser River in British Columbia. The case is based on Cowichan Nation Aboriginal title to approximately 1846 acres of traditional village and surrounding lands on the south shore of Lulu Island now in the city of Richmond, as well as a Cowichan Nation Aboriginal right to fish the south arm of the Fraser River for food. The Cowichan Nation is today comprised of five bands – Cowichan Tribes, Stz’uminus First Nation, Penelakut Tribe, Halalt First Nation and Lyackson First Nation – with the first four bands being plaintiffs and the fifth supporting the litigation.
The Cowichan Nation’s enormous permanent village was first observed by Hudson’s Bay Company officials in 1824 as containing over 108 longhouses. In 1827, the HBC first charted the Cowichan village as a landmark on the Fraser River’s main channel (Figure 1). The village continued to be observed and charted through the late 1850s and onward during the process of British surveying of the international boundary between what is now Canada and the United States (e.g. Figure 2).
During colonial reserve creation beginning in 1859, the Chief Commissioner of Lands for the Colony of British Columbia, Colonel Richard Moody, failed to finalize the village and surrounding land as a Cowichan Indian reserve. Instead, he surreptitiously took part of the lands for himself. Today, over 780 acres of the Cowichan Nation settlement are owned by the government of Canada, its agent the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, and the City of Richmond (see Schedules A & B). The Cowichan Nation is seeking to recover those publicly held lands – much of which remain undeveloped.
The Cowichan Nation is not seeking to recover any privately held lands in the court case. For these lands it is seeking a negotiated reconciliation with government. “This case is about our settlement at Tl’uqtinus. It has always been our homeland, where our people fished, traded, and gathered berries and other resources. It was stolen from us. We want the lands that are held by government returned to us,” says Chief Lydia Hwitsum on behalf of the Cowichan Nation Alliance. “We aren’t looking to invalidate the ownership of any privately held land. This case is about truth and reconciliation between the Cowichan Nation, Canada, and British Columbia. Those governments need to reconcile with us.”
Over 400 days of evidence at trial concluded in November 2022. Closing oral argument is underway this week, July 5 -7, at the Duncan courthouse and is expected to conclude in Victoria in late September 2023.
About the Cowichan Nation Alliance: The Cowichan Nation Alliance is comprised of Cowichan Tribes, Stz’uminus First Nation, Penelakut Tribe, and Halalt First Nation. The Alliance formed as part of the rebuilding of the Cowichan Nation, which Canada and the Province split into five separate Indian Act bands as part of the colonization of British Columbia without treaties.
For media inquiries, please contact: David M. Robbins, Counsel, drobbins@woodwardandcompany.com
Figure 1: Detail from Great Britain, Chart #1922, ‘North America West Coast Gulf of Georgia – Fraser River’ from a Drawing by Cpt. Emilius Simpson in H.B.C. Schooner Cadboro, 1827.
Figure 2: Detail from British North West Boundary Survey Map Sheet No. 1, ‘British Columbia – Washington Territory’, Signed May 7, 1869 by Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s Commissioner Col. J.S. Hawkins, Royal Engineers, and United States’ Commissioner Archibald McDonald.
