BC Government Continues to Fundamentally Change Control of Property

By Jason Clemens and Tegan Hill — February 6, 2026

While the Cowichan court decision, and to a lesser extent the more recent mineral rights court decision, have dominated discussions on how property rights are being eroded in British Columbia, the Eby government quietly signed yet another land-use agreement with an Indigenous group on Vancouver Island that fundamentally changes property rights and decision-making in the area.

As the premier himself has recognized, the erosion and uncertainty of private property in the province is imposing huge costs on average British Columbians, and will continue to do so until the government shows genuine leadership and provides clarity on this issue. The premier and his government cannot simultaneously oppose the recent court decisions while negotiating bilateral agreements with Indigenous groups that effectively have the similar results as the court cases.

The Cowichan and Mineral Rights Decisions

To recap, the stability of private property in the form of fee simple ownership was called into question in a 2025 court case recognizing the Cowichan Tribe's Aboriginal title over 800 acres of Crown and private land in Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver. The judge found that where Aboriginal title is deemed to exist, it is "prior and senior" to fee simple property rights. This has thrown the status of more than 150 private property owners into turmoil and forced the provincial government to establish a $150 million-plus fund to support loan guarantees and other measures as property owners struggle with uncertain property rights, in some cases an inability to renew mortgages and the potential for real declines in their property value.

Premier Eby heavily criticized the decision and indicated his government would support the appeal of the Cowichan case on several fronts, even though the government did not contest the case originally. Premier Eby also promised to enact changes to the legislation involved in the mineral rights case.

Specifically, the B.C. Court of Appeals recently found the province's reformed mineral claims system violated its own law. In 2019, the B.C. legislature unanimously passed DRIPA, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, which requires the province to "bring provincial laws into alignment with the UN Declaration". The UN's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) states that Indigenous peoples "have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired" and that states "shall consult and cooperate in good faith" in order to "obtain free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources."

Premier Eby's Record

Premier Eby was not only part of the cabinet that supported and passed DRIPA but was the attorney general and provided the clarifications on the implementation guidelines for the Act. Simply put, Eby has a long record of championing Aboriginal control over land at the expense of private property rights.

While the Premier stated the government will amend DRIPA to scale back the power courts have, he hasn't reversed his support for the mandate that DRIPA provides to the government to recognize Aboriginal title and provide management rights to Indigenous groups that erode private property in the province.

Bilateral Agreements Concluded Without Public Scrutiny

Consider the various bilateral agreements the Eby government has concluded with Indigenous groups across the province:

• The most sweeping change transferred title and control of the Queen Charlotte Islands (now called Haida Gwaii) to the Haida Council.

• Other agreements include granting shíshálh Nation title over 100 hectares of Crown land, provided the acquisition of private land, and granted management power over water access and docks in the Sunshine Coast region.

• Powers were granted to the Squamish Nation in a region north of Vancouver including 33 Indigenous cultural sites, which is now off limits for development (the group also has the ability to close provincial parks for non-Aboriginal use).

• The power to veto mining projects in the Fish Lake (Teẑtan Biny) area was given to the Tŝilhqot'in Nation.

• More recently the province announced an agreement with the 'Na̱mg̱is First Nation to co-manage some 166,000 hectares of land (roughly 11 times the size of the City of Vancouver) in the Nimpkish Valley in the northern region of Vancouver Island.

These bilateral agreements are largely being negotiated covertly, without much public scrutiny, if any at all. Most British Columbians are not aware of their far-reaching and long-lasting consequences. These agreements will continue to impose enormous uncertainty in the province, which affects business investment, discourages entrepreneurship and generally depresses economic growth.

At a time when the province is struggling with anemic economic growth, a near crisis in government finances, people voting with their feet and leaving the province, and a continued lack of private-sector investment, clarity and certainty regarding property is needed immediately as one step in reversing the province's decline.