B.C. landowner loses bid to reopen landmark Cowichan Aboriginal title case

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has ruled against a company that was trying to reopen a landmark Aboriginal title decision after the original trial lasted more than 500 days. The court ruled in August that the Cowichan Tribes have Aboriginal title over a portion of Crown, city and private land in Richmond, saying the Crown’s granting of private titles on the land “unjustifiably” infringed on the Cowichan title. Montrose Properties, the area’s largest landowner, tried to get the case reopened, arguing it was unfairly omitted from the original trial and that its fee simple land interests …