@amirattaran.bsky.social:
A breakthrough! A successful Aboriginal title claim without years of delay. A floodgate has opened, in a good and just way.
Court rules B.C. First Nation has land title, recognizing its full claim by Justine Hunter, April 2, 2026, The Globe and Mail
The B.C. Court of Appeal has confirmed the Nuchatlaht, a First Nation with 180 members, has Aboriginal title over more than 200 square kilometres of land off Vancouver Island’s west coast.
The Nuchatlaht won Canada’s second-ever finding of Aboriginal title in 2024, but only over a small fraction of their claim area.
On Thursday, the court recognized the First Nation’s full claim, saying the B.C. Supreme Court erred by disregarding material evidence, setting an arbitrary boundary, and incorrectly limiting evidence of occupation to village and reserve sites.
“In combination, these errors indicate the judge misapplied the test for sufficient occupation and made palpable and overriding errors in applying the law to the facts,” the judgment states.
The decision means the First Nation has sufficiently proven they occupied the area at the time Britain asserted sovereignty over Nootka Island, the test set out in the Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark Tsilhqot’in decision in 2014.
The Nuchatlaht’s claim was deliberately limited to avoid issues that had complicated and prolonged other Aboriginal title claims.
The Nuchatlaht did not claim title to any land over which there were competing claims including privately owned lands or lands claimed by neighbouring First Nations. The trial lasted just 54 days – unusually short for an Aboriginal title case.
The 2024 B.C. Supreme Court decision found that the Nuchatlaht proved Aboriginal title to 1,140 hectares of land on the north end of Nootka Island, including a large portion of Nuchatlitz Provincial Park. That was roughly five per cent of the claimed area.
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After the Tsilhqot’in in B.C.’s central interior, the Nuchatlaht were the second in Canada to have their Aboriginal title affirmed by the courts. In August, 2025, the Cowichan tribes also won a title case.
The Nuchatlaht’s lawyer, Jack Woodward said the latest ruling sets a precedent for other places.
“It particularly stands for protection of the archeological sites and the old growth cedar forests on the western coast of British Columbia,” he said in an interview.
“British Columbia has been chastened by this decision for its long-standing refusal to protect the archeological heritage of the First Nations.”