Aboriginal title and fee simple ownership are two distinct forms of property rights. Historically, in British Columbia, the Crown did not recognize Aboriginal title; rather, it assumed that it held title to the land and proceeded to grant those rights to settlers. This led to the exclusion of Indigenous peoples from their own territories throughout the Province. Cases such as the court case brought by the Quw’utsun Nation are about addressing these historical wrongs by the Crown and determining how these overlapping rights should be reconciled today.

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In this case, the Quw’utsun Nation never asked the Court to invalidate the titles held by individual homeowners or private businesses and never tried to get those lands back. The Nation’s case is not about taking land from individual private property owners in the claim area.

The Nation has emphasized that they intentionally did not bring this case against individual private landowners or private businesses. In doing so, the Nation has in fact taken a respectful and responsible approach, aimed at reconciling their interests and those of the individual titleholders. Their case focused on holding the Crown accountable for its actions, not on challenging individual British Columbians.

Contrary to what’s being said by much of the media, the Court’s ruling does not “erase” private property. It does not mean that private property owners in the area over which the Court declared Aboriginal title no longer own their lands. Private fee simple interests continue to exist on these Aboriginal title lands.