Coast Salish Territory (Vancouver, BC) – The First Nations Summit rejects and condemns the BC Court of Appeal (BCAA) decision in the Tsilhqot’in Nation case (William v. British Columbia) that there can never be First Nations held Aboriginal Title grounded in our territories which make up the lands now called British Columbia. The view of the court that “…Aboriginal title cannot generally be proven on a territorial basis…” is a gross misreading of decades of case law and regresses the development of the concept of Aboriginal Title to site-specific salt licks, fishing rocks and buffalo jumps.
The BCCA’s exceptionally narrow decision does not in any way assist in efforts toward reconciliation. If this same reasoning from the BCCA were to be applied to the existence of Crown title in BC, how can the Province then justify its claim to Crown sovereignty over the lands of this province?”, said Grand Chief Edward John, of the First Nations Summit Political Executive.
Chief John stated, “There is no doubt there is now a double standard applying to the existence of Aboriginal and Crown title. It is inexplicable how the onus is on the original peoples of the lands having to prove their existence as peoples and that of their land rights while the Crown governments do not have to prove the legitimacy of Crown title to lands traditionally held by First Nations.”