Aboriginal Title Agreements Threaten Property Rights Across Metro Vancouver

Premier David Eby’s quiet push to effectively grant Aboriginal title over large swaths of British Columbia, coupled with a landmark B.C. Supreme Court decision in 2025 granting Aboriginal title to the Cowichan Tribe over land around Richmond (a suburb of Vancouver), has significantly increased public anxiety in the province. And if property owners in Vancouver, and indeed the entire province, weren’t yet in a state of panic over the threats to their property, recent agreements between the Carney government and the Musqueam Indian Band might be the final straw on the proverbial camel’s back.

On Friday, Feb. 20, the federal government quietly issued a news release with the headline: “Musqueam and Canada Sign Historic Agreements Recognizing Rights, Stewardship, and Fisheries.”

What the Musqueam Claim as Their Territory

For context, it’s important to understand exactly what the Musqueam claim as their territory. According to the Musqueam website, “Today, portions of Musqueam’s territory are called Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, New Westminster, Delta, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Surrey, UBC Endowment Lands, YVR Airport and Coquitlam.” In other words, nearly every square inch of Metro Vancouver. And according to the Musqueam, it holds “Aboriginal title to our land, and Aboriginal rights within that territory occupied.”

And now apparently our own federal government—without consultation, transparency, a vote by the public or any publicity—has agreed with, and essentially granted, the Musqueam’s claims.

Of the three “Historic Agreements,” the most worrying for Vancouverites should be the Rights Recognition Agreement, which, according to the government’s news release, “recognizes that Musqueam has Aboriginal rights, including title, within their traditional territory and establishes a framework for incremental implementation of rights.”

Don’t worry, Vancouverites, your property rights won’t be eroded in a single stroke. They will be eroded through “incremental implementation.” The federal government won’t use a bulldozer to level your property rights—it will use a sledgehammer repeatedly over time.

Out of Touch with Reality

Ottawa, of course, doesn’t see it that way. It claims the agreements “represent a major step forward towards reconciliation.” How out of touch are our politicians that they can’t see that this type of “reconciliation” has the potential to be a disaster for our province?

At best, it will create uncertainty for years, perhaps decades. And uncertainty is detrimental to private-sector business investment, which is essential to improve productivity and living standards. What company or entrepreneur would invest in a province that does not guarantee property rights?

According to the vast majority of scholars who study why some places prosper while others stagnate or fail, private property is a necessary condition for prosperity. Only countries with private property can flourish. In fact, the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to three economists who conducted empirical research on the institutions that shape prosperity, and found that property rights are essential.

And it’s quite possible, even likely, that as people realize their property is under threat, the laudable goal of reconciliation will become more difficult to achieve. Of course, you’d never get that impression reading the more than half-dozen quotes in the news release from ministers of the federal government.

The Government’s Own Words

For example, the Honourable Rebecca Alty, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Canada, notes that “Our government was elected to meet a generational challenge: to strengthen Canada’s economy and deliver results… Reconciliation is not just words, but action—where Musqueam and Canada are working to incrementally implement Musqueam’s Aboriginal rights within their territory.”

The Honourable Steven MacKinnon, leader of the government in the House of Commons, added that: “Today’s announcement marks a meaningful step forward in reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and in recognizing their historic contributions to the economic development of the region and of Canada.”