More than 500 people packed the Sheraton Hotel near Vancouver International Airport on Tuesday night, wanting to hear more about the potential impacts of a major B.C. Supreme Court ruling involving the Cowichan Nation.
Many attendees expressed frustration and uncertainty over what was going to happen.
In August, B.C.’s Supreme Court granted the Quw’utsun Nation (Cowichan Nation) Aboriginal title over 5.7 km of land in Richmond.
Last week, the City of Richmond sent a letter to a group of 150 property owners, warning them that the case could compromise the validity of their ownership.
The Cowichan Nation argued against this and said the ruling does not erase anyone’s private property.
On Tuesday, though, officials gave a presentation on what the city has argued for in the case.
The city believes that affected landowners should have been given notice of those proceedings by the Cowichan Nations and that the lack of notice was a contentious point for those impacted last night.
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That was the subject of a somewhat tense exchange between Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie and a property owner during the meeting.
Brodie said it was the Cowichan Nation’s job, as the plaintiff in the case, to inform affected landowners. However, those landowners were not informed of the case until the City of Richmond sent a letter to those addresses.
The City of Richmond is appealing the decision along with the provincial and federal governments.
More to come…
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