Two court judgments this year forced B.C. Premier David Eby's government to react.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
A new lawsuit by a First Nation in Northern British Columbia is closing out a year in which the provincial government has struggled to advance reconciliation with Indigenous peoples in the legislature and in the courts.
The Tsay Keh Dene filed a civil claim against the province in B.C. Supreme Court on Dec. 12, alleging that the province has been in secret talks with another First Nation that claims to be the modern successor to most of their traditional territories – roughly 3.2 million hectares in northeastern B.C.
“This opens a can of worms,” said Deeanna Izony, executive director of the Tsay Keh Dene Nation.
“B.C.’s actions destabilize the legal and social framework that protects Indigenous rights, and it creates conflict, and it makes it harder for Nations to assert and defend their rights under the Constitution.”
The Tsay Keh Dene’s allegations have not been proven in court, but the claim caps a year of landmark court cases that are reshaping Aboriginal rights and title, creating challenges for the B.C. government second only to the U.S. tariff fight.
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Reforms to land use have been delayed and the province lost consequential court cases, including the Cowichan case that has thrown into question private property rights, forcing what will be a lengthy, costly and important appeal.
The Tsay Keh Dene Nation case threatens to stir up tensions between First Nations themselves, and to add further uncertainty over title in a province where few treaties exist, and much of B.C. remains subject to land claims.
The uncertainty over the land base comes as British Columbia is pushing to develop its natural resources as part of a country-wide blitz to widen markets in the face of U.S. trade and sovereignty threats.
The law in Canada remains clear that governments - the Crown - must consult with First Nations on resource development. But just who is to be consulted with, and to what degree, became muddier in 2025.
“Without question, there are moments of surprise, especially in relation to court judgments,” Premier David Eby said in a year-end interview.
Two court judgments in particular have forced his government to react.
In August, the B.C. Supreme Court found the Cowichan Tribes on Vancouver Island have established Aboriginal title to roughly 750 acres in southeast Richmond, B.C., on the Fraser River, which include private property. Two other nations, the Musqueam Indian Band and the Tsawwassen First Nation, opposed the Cowichan’s claims.
Mr. Eby says private-property owners have reason to be concerned because the decision could have implications in countless scenarios across the country where Indigenous peoples have been unjustly displaced.
A similar case was heard in New Brunswick, resulting in a very different conclusion. New Brunswick’s Court of Appeal ruled on Dec. 11 that an Indigenous group cannot seek a declaration of Aboriginal title over private property, saying the threat to private interests “would sound the death knell of reconciliation.”
Mr. Eby said his government will be combing the New Brunswick decision for tactics to use in seeking to overturn the Cowichan ruling.
“There might be pieces we can learn from New Brunswick. We’re looking at that decision, and certainly we’ll be arguing it at the Court of Appeal in British Columbia,” Mr. Eby said.
“This is obviously an unsettled area of law.”
B.C.’s Court of Appeal rendered another decision on a narrow mining policy with wide-reaching implications.
The court’s judgment establishes a new benchmark for the implementation of B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), ruling that, with immediate effect, the province’s mineral claims regime is “inconsistent” with the requirements of that law.
DRIPA was passed into law in 2019 and promises to ensure all provincial statutes and policies align with a United Nations proclamation meant to protect the rights of Indigenous peoples to own, use and control their traditional lands, territories and resources.
B.C. is now drafting legislative amendments in a bid to prevent the courts from intervening in its work to enact the commitments of DRIPA, a process that was not designed to take immediate effect.
Mr. Eby worries that these cases are undermining public support for the work of reconciliation with First Nations - work that is critical to moving forward with tens of billions of dollars’ worth of resource investments in mining, liquefied natural gas and clean energy.
But they are not the only factors that have caused public anxiety about the cost of reconciliation.
The Eby government’s efforts to advance reconciliation in law is often shaped behind closed doors, a process that has not brought the public along.
In the spring, his government sought to amend the Heritage Conservation Act, which protects more than 64,000 heritage sites across the province – most of which are Indigenous.
The amendments were devised through years of consultation with Indigenous leadership but with limited input from other stakeholders who fear the proposed changes will erode the rights of private landowners and tenure holders.
The ensuing backlash has stalled the amendments, infuriating First Nations in the process.
“We’ve brought forward proposals that we’ve had to take back and either abandon entirely, or retrofit,” Mr. Eby said. “This is hard work, and we’re not perfect.”