Cowichan Decision
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CONTEXT
On August 7, 2025, after the longest trial in BC history, the BC Supreme Court issued reasons finding Aboriginal title over approximately 324 hectares (800 acres) of privately-owned lands in Richmond, British Columbia. This included a significant portion of the approximately 193 hectares (477 acres) owned by Montrose Properties.
Montrose’s Request to Reopen Cowichan Tribes Case Will Be Heard February 11 and 12, 2026
Why did Montrose request that the case be reopened?
Neither Montrose nor any of the other approximately 150 private-property owners were named as defendants in the case, and none of them were participants in the 513-day trial.
How does the Court decision affect Montrose?
The Court’s finding of Aboriginal title over private lands has created tremendous uncertainty for Montrose’s businesses. These include a halt in development of the Richmond Industrial Centre—an industrial park with tenants such as Canadian Tire, Coca-Cola Canada Bottling Ltd., Wayfair, Worldpac and Ademco—that supports thousands of well-paid industrial jobs, generates hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity and strengthens trade logistics and supply chains both regionally and nationally.
Will the Court reopen the trial?
The presiding judge, Justice Barbara Young, can reopen the hearing and consider more submissions and receive further evidence if she is satisfied that it is in the interests of justice to do so.
What is Montrose asking for if the trial is reopened?
Montrose is not asking the Court to restart the trial at day one, or to revisit all the historical evidence that was heard in the 513-day trial. Instead, it is asking for the right to give evidence and make submissions on a number of specific issues, including whether it is appropriate for a Court to make findings of Aboriginal title over private lands when the landowners were not part of the trial. [See Montrose Application Materials]
Montrose is also asking the Court to consider a recent decision of the New Brunswick Court of appeal in JD Irving Limited et al. v. Wolastoqey Nation, which overturned a lower court decision that was relied on by Justice Young in the Cowichan Tribes trial. The December 2025 New Brunswick decision concluded that a court does not have jurisdiction to issue a declaration of Aboriginal title against lands owned by parties that were not part of the case.
SOURCES
January 26, 2026 News Release: Private Landowner’s Request to Reopen Cowichan Tribes Case will be Heard February 11 [download PDF]
November 6, 2025 News Release: Private Landowner Asking Court to Reopen Cowichan Tribes Case [download PDF]