Vancouver Sun;

The question that dominated a Richmond public meeting this week on the impact of a recent court decision on Aboriginal title was a simple one: “Why weren’t we told sooner?”

Residents had learned just this month, courtesy of a letter from Mayor Malcolm Brodie, that the B.C. Supreme Court decision recognizing Aboriginal title over hundreds of acres of city land could have a “negative impact” on private land within the area.

They had heard Premier David Eby say that the mayor’s concerns were warranted and that residents were right to be worried — and not just residents of Richmond. “It is a big deal,” said the premier.

Yet the case dates back 10 years. And as far back as eight years ago, the court had wrestled with whether to notify private landowners about the implications of a declaration of Aboriginal title.

So why were landowners and residents only learning about it now?

[…]

The judge worried that if the court ordered formal notifications to private landowners it could be swamped with applications from them for standing.

“It would for all practical purposes put a halt to these proceedings,” Power ruled. Plus, the Cowichan Tribes “do not seek at this stage to invalidate fee-simple interests held by private landowners.”

Note: “At this stage.” In the event Cowichan were to revise its intentions in future, the private landowners could then proceed to court and file a complaint that “they were not given formal notice” earlier.

Do you have a mortgage on your property in Richmond?

From the comments: The judge, Barbara Young, seems to have rediscovered her aboriginal family history in 2015.