On August 7, 2025, the British Columbia Supreme Court released a
significant decision on Aboriginal title in Cowichan Tribes v.
Canada (Attorney General), 2025 BCSC 1490.
This case has profound implications for Aboriginal title,
particularly concerning lands submerged by water.
This is one of a series of blogs about the Cowichan
Tribes decision. A complete list of blogs in this series is
linked at the end of this post.
The Case at a Glance
The plaintiffs, successors of the historic Cowichan Nation,
sought declarations of Aboriginal title over approximately 1,846
acres of land, including a traditional summer village on the Fraser
River's south arm, now part of Richmond, British Columbia. They
also sought a declaration for an Aboriginal right to fish for food
on the south arm of the Fraser River.1 The case, which
began in 2014, was a lengthy and complex legal battle with six
defendants: Canada, British Columbia, the City of Richmond, the
Vancouver Fraser Port
