The following letter was sent to Premier Eby on October 14, 2025 calling on the Province to pause all negotiations on Aboriginal Title on the Sunshine Coast and everywhere until the Cowichan Tribes appeal has been fully resolved. It was also cc’d to major media outlets, other government ministers as well as the heads of several leading organizations in British Columbia.

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Dear Premier Eby,

On August 7, 2025, the BC Supreme Court issued a landmark decision that raises profound issues for BC’s land title regime.  In Cowichan Tribes v. Canada, the Court held that the BC Land Title Act does not give private property owners certainty against aboriginal title claims.  Your Attorney General immediately stated: “We disagree strongly with the decision.  British Columbia will be filing an appeal…” You yourself were reported to have said: “… let me be clear: owning private property with clear title is key to borrowing for a mortgage, economic certainty, and the real estate market.”  Yet despite these words, your government quietly went to court several weeks later to seek a “consent order” – judicially affirming Haida Nation aboriginal title over private lands on Haida Gwaii.  It appears from media reports that your intention in seeking that consent court order was to prevent future governments from ever repealing your 2024 law recognizing aboriginal title over private property on Haida Gwaii.

So how does one square these positions?  Are you opposed to aboriginal title existing over private property?  Or are you in favour of it?

The judge in the Cowichan Tribes case might have also been confused by government’s inconsistent position on these matters.  At paragraph 3564 she noted: “B.C. submits that… Aboriginal Title and fee simple title conflict and cannot co-exist because both include the right to exclusive use and occupancy”. Yet at paragraph 2140, she noted that the Haida law you passed “illustrate[s] how Aboriginal Title and fee simple can co-exist as legal interests through a negotiated agreement.”

Why does this matter to us, and the average British Columbian?

Because in summer 2024, you publicly described the Haida deal as a “template” for BC.  And around that same time, your government signed an agreement to negotiate Aboriginal Title over the Sunshine Coast (even though the deal was kept secret from the public and your own Sunshine Coast NDP candidate until well after the election).  So just like in the case of the Land Act debacle, the residents of our area now find themselves thrust into a most unenviable position.  And while we may be the first citizens (after Haida Gwaii) having our private property rights and Aboriginal Title being negotiated in secret – we highly doubt we will be the last. This is a matter of concern to every private property owner, lender and investor in British Columbia.  

So, we urge you to immediately pause all negotiations related to the recognition of Aboriginal Title (on the Sunshine Coast or anywhere) until after the appeals in the Cowichan Tribes case have run their course.  

And we ask for your clear, immediate and unequivocal commitment that you will do so.

Yours truly

PHARA Board