Thoughts on BC Politics and More

For Trevor Botkin, Sunday's International Overdose Awareness Day is a chance to reflect on his journey with addiction. The manager of industry relations for the Construction Foundation of British Columbia said his experience with addiction was worsened by the stigma associated with asking for help, especially in a male-dominated industry. Now in recovery, Botkin ­advocates for widespread job-site access to the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, along with a shift in culture at trades workplaces ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

Canada’s health system remains short more than 51,000 doctors and nurses, according to a new federal briefing note that shows little progress despite years of warnings about a worsening workforce crisis. A June 20 Department of Health memo said the country lacks over 23,000 family physicians and 28,000 registered nurses, while also struggling with staff burnout and retention. The shortage, though smaller than past estimates of nearly 90,000, was not explained by officials. The note acknowledged that tens of thousands of foreign-trained professionals in Canada are still unable to work in their fields. Of 198,000 internationally educated health workers living here, only 58% are employed in the profession they trained for ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Based mostly on their 2024 budget, the federal government has promised $2.4 billion in support of artificial intelligence (A.I.) innovation and research. Given the potential importance of the A.I. sector and the universal expectation that modern governments should support private business development, this doesn’t sound all that crazy. But does this particular implementation of that role actually make sense? After all, the global A.I. industry is currently suffering existential convulsions, with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of sector dominance regularly shifting back and forth between the big corporate players. And I’m not sure any major provider has yet built a demonstrably profitable model.  Is Canada in a realistic position to compete on this playing field and, if we are, should we really want to? ... CLICK HERE for the full story

It’s official. Toronto’s most iconic public square — the beating heart of the city’s downtown — has been renamed Sankofa Square. The name comes from Ghana, and means "reflection on the past," but what past are we reflecting on? ... ... following a two-year consultation process led by a city advisory committee stacked with activists and bureaucrats, the square's new name was revealed. To people's surprise, it had no connection to Canada, no resonance with most Canadians, and no relevance to the square itself. A subsequent poll of Torontonians revealed overwhelming disapproval — 71% saying they did not want this change ... CLICK HERE for the full story

... a copy of these internal communications shared with PressProgress shows a strike vote is officially one of the options facing workers, if the province insists on putting limits on the nurses’ benefits package — particularly targeting massages and physiotherapy — which is currently 100% covered by the province. This comes after a June Castanet report of nurses at one BC hospital saying they would be willing to go on strike over cuts to their benefits. “For nurses with chronic pain… it would be kind of a cruel move to take that away,” said Kat, whose name has been changed upon request, to prevent potential backlash from her employer for speaking to media. “They’re going to have more nurses with injuries and pain and [taking] sick time" ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Fraser Health has become the latest health authority to make job cuts. The authority, which covers the area between Hope all the way west to Burnaby and Delta, confirmed Friday that they have been implementing workforce reductions in the form of layoffs, closing open job postings and cancelling third-party contracts. It’s part of a province-wide restructuring, coming on the heels of the Provincial Health Services Authority cutting 57 employees and eliminating 61 vacant positions earlier this month, not long after the Island Health Authority chopped 117 non-union jobs ... CLICK HERE for the full story

On the Coast’s Soapbox Social panelists Mo Amir and Kyla Lee weigh in on BC's growing debt, looming strike votes and John Horgan’s new biography ... CLICK HERE for the conversation 

Tens of thousands of provincial government workers could go on strike as soon as Tuesday.  The BC General Employees’ Union and the Professional Employees Association said Friday afternoon they would file strike notices covering close to 36,000 workers.  The BCGEU said 92.7 per cent of its voting members were in favour of a strike, with a turnout of just over 86 per cent.  “Their message to government is clear: We are united and ready to act to secure a fair contract that keeps BC’s public services strong" ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

IMAGE CREDIT: RBC   The federal government elected at the end of April 2025 decided not to table a budget this spring. Even in uncertain times, presenting a budget should not be optional. At the very least, an economic update in June would have provided a snapshot of public finances and the financial impact of recent decisions. Instead, we’ll have to wait until fall for a full picture of the federal books. In the meantime, we’re left with numbers from the December 2024 economic statement. But a lot has changed since then: revenues are falling, spending is climbing, and the deficit is almost certainly worse than what the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) projected in its campaign platform ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

IMAGE CREDIT:    Canadian Medical Protective Association A widowed, elderly man with a body tremor was approved for medical assistance in dying (MAID) despite loneliness and poor self-esteem motivating his application, a new report from Ontario’s chief coroner’s office says. The man, called Mr. C in the report, had an essential tremor, which causes uncontrollable shaking, often of the hands. Tremors are incurable neurological conditions, but not fatal.  Mr. C’s tremors had made it difficult for him to participate in hobbies and social activities. A widower in his 70s, he “did not perceive that he had much to offer in a new relationship” because of the tremor, the report says.  Mr. C said he “experienced profound hopelessness and loneliness” and could not find meaningful relationships or fulfillment after his spouse’s death. His MAID provider noted he applied because of bereavement and emotional suffering ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Conservative   MLA Gavin Dew (Kelowna–Mission), Opposition Critic for Jobs, Economic Development, and Innovation, says small businesses across British Columbia are being abandoned by the NDP government in the face of rising vandalism, violence, and street disorder. A new survey from the Business Improvement Areas of BC (BIABC) found: 67% of downtown businesses  report street disorder has worsened in the past year, fueled by drugs, mental health crises, and homelessness. 74% of business owners  say staff fear and anxiety have increased. 61% face rising operating costs  linked to crime and vandalism. Nearly  1 in 5 businesses  warn they may not survive another year if conditions do not improve. “ Small businesses have been left to fend for themselves ,” said Dew.  “ Every day brings another story of property crime, open drug use, violence, or even a body found outside a storefront. The NDP’s failed policies are making the situation worse .":...

Books by Margaret Atwood, Alan Moore, Aldous Huxley, Philip Roth, George R. R. Martin and dozens of other authors will be pulled from the shelves of Edmonton school libraries this fall to comply with sweeping content restrictions imposed by Alberta’s United Conservative government. A list of books produced by the Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB), marked as an internal working document not for distribution, was posted to social media on Aug. 28. “Following a division review process, the following books have been identified as containing explicit sexual content. These materials are to be removed from all libraries accessible to students in Kindergarten through Grade 12,” the document reads. The list includes 221 novels, graphic novels, novellas and manga from more than 90 authors ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

On taking office eight years ago, premier John Horgan faced immediate decisions on three major projects – the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, the Site C dam, and the LNG Canada terminal. The New Democrats had been sharply critical of each in Opposition. Yet all three went ahead for reasons explained by the late premier in a memoir – John Horgan In His Own Words – scheduled for publication this fall ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

When Naheed Nenshi was elected in June 2024 to helm the Alberta NDP, it signalled a further tilt to the centre for a party focused on gaining more middle-class voters. The former Calgary mayor has famously adopted purple as his trademark colour, a blend of Liberal red and Conservative blue — a visual cue to Nenshi’s post-ideological ethos. But is the Alberta NDP, a party first led in 1963 by an oilpatch union leader, paying a big price by failing to tend to its working-class roots? Vocal about his commitment to good policy over ideology, Nenshi, who became a member of the Alberta legislature in July, argues voters are hungry for a pragmatic leader in a province ruled by a polarizing government ... CLICK HERE for the full story

As parents get ready to ante up for school supplies and fees, a “transformative” government fund aimed at reducing such costs for vulnerable families has quietly evaporated. The program, called the Student and Family Affordability Fund, had been created in 2022 to help students with costly expenses, like school supplies and class trips. Although initially billed as a one-time fund, it was renewed last year with $20 million given to school districts to help families struggling with school-related expenses. Government and school officials trumpeted the fund’s importance at the time. In March 2024, Langford-Juan de Fuca NDP MLA Ravi Parmar called the fund “transformative” for schools in his district. “ I am eager to see how schools will further utilize this expanded funding to help our kids be the best they can be ”  ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Canada spends more on health care than just about any other country in the world, and with abysmal results. Yet when it comes to fixing the problem, most politicians and policy-makers are immune to common sense.  As business leader Gwyn Morgan writes, allowing private options alongside government-funded health care has been proven to help patients in both systems – around the world and here in Canada, too. Yet the courts continued to uphold restrictions on private care while the Mark Carney government simply promises to throw still more money at the problem – showing itself to be as deluded and dogmatic as those who went before ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

The rebrand has received criticism from longtime fans, many Inuit, and those who understand that a football team is more than just a logo — it’s a living symbol of community, grit and tradition. Ironically, the name wasn't offensive to most Inuit. In fact, a majority were against the change. A whopping 78% of western Arctic Inuit surveyed opposed altering the team name, while in Nunavut, that number was 55%.  Former Northwest Territories MLA Herbert Nakimayak said, "I'm proud to be Eskimo myself," and NHL alumnus Jordan Tootoo echoed that sentiment, calling the name "not objectionable." These aren't fringe voices — they're respected members of the community ... CLICK HERE for the full story

IMAGE CREDIT:   BC Lottery Corporation   Canada’s financial intelligence agency has hit the British Columbia Lottery Corporation with a $1.075-million penalty for failing to report suspicious transactions and monitor high-risk high-rollers — the first major suspected money-laundering case against the province’s casino arm since the Cullen Commission, whose more than 100 recommendations remain largely ignored by Premier David Eby’s government. The case centers on BCLC’s failure to report suspicious cash transactions tied to a particular “high-risk” gambler, as well as its failure to maintain adequate compliance measures for such cases. The provincial Crown corporation has appealed the decision in Federal Court, reportedly contending that Fintrac failed to consider whether the gambler’s “perceived uncooperativeness and inconsistencies arose from linguistic and cultural differences”  ... CLICK HERE for the full sytory

Claire Rattée, MLA for Skeena   A 12-year-old girl found alone in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Reports suggest she may have already been sexually assaulted, yet somehow, she ended up on the street without support. The group home she lives in allegedly reported they were “aware” of her location. How can the ministry justify letting a little 12 year old girl in their care wander the DTES on her own and not intervene?  In a statement the Ministry of Children and Family Development said “When a child in care is absent from the home environment, caregivers and social workers are tasked with working in the best interest of the child, which often involves continuous risk assessment, difficult decision-making, and navigating complex factors related to the child’s life circumstances.” Yet, no one intervened, despite reports of sexual assault and drug use. The Downtown Eastside is ground zero for this government’s failed policies. If a child in government care can disappear into ...

... Hard plastics and polypropylene ropes can entangle or strangle ocean wildlife, while plastic tarps and other large items can block the sun, killing coral habitats. Then there’s the “ever-dreaded microplastics,” Merante said, created by the UV and physical degradation of plastics. Microplastics can be ingested by wildlife of nearly all sizes and kinds, including humans. “Things like tuna or salmon eat them, and then we catch those fish, eat them, that plastic pollution goes from the environment onto our plate, and into our bodies,” he said. But one BC-based non-profit has found a downstream pollution solution: recapture, recycle and recirculate reconstituted discarded plastic back into the market to become sustainable, responsible consumer goods ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Half of Canadians would be ‘ashamed to call him PM,’ one poll says. But can he spark without snark? When Parliament returns on Sept. 15, the rematch will begin between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. Normally, it is the government with the most on the line when the daily inquisition of question period resumes. And that is how it should be. But not this time. For a variety of reasons, Poilievre, not the PM, faces the greatest scrutiny as Parliament resumes. And that scrutiny is at the most basic level. Everyone knows that Poilievre can deliver an insult with the best of them. But with a leadership review just a few short months away, the question is whether he still is the right person to lead the Conservative party back to government ... CLICK HERE for the full story

IMAGE CREDIT:  The Fraser Institute   In this episode of The Line: Alberta Podcast, Rob Breakenridge is joined by Dr. Kent Fellows, assistant professor of economics at the University of Calgary and fellow-in-residence at the C.D. Howe Institute. Sagging oil prices have once again highlighted the perils of Alberta’s over-reliance on energy revenues, even if the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has helped to provide a revenue boost. This fiscal uncertainty comes at a time when Alberta is hoping Ottawa can deliver on some major new energy infrastructure — including, of course, a new pipeline — and potentially help pave the way for economic and energy corridors that could allow such projects to be fast-tracked in the future. We’ll get some insight from Prof. Fellows on the economics underlying all of this: the implications of fluctuating oil prices on Alberta’s budget, the challenges of pipeline capacity and infrastructure development, as well as the political factors in the ene...

The first two-term NDP premier in British Columbia history has one story left in him. John Horgan, who died last November, conducted a series of interviews in the year before he passed away, which have been turned into a memoir by longtime BC journalist Rod Mickleburgh ... ... while the book doesn't have too much in the way of settling scores, Horgan is critical of some politicians he encountered during his career — a decent number of who are fellow NDPers ...  CLICK HERE for the full story

Premier John Horgan and his New Democrats were just settling into office eight years ago when they discovered that the departing BC Liberal government had left them a financial windfall. “BC Liberal Finance Minister Mike de Jong left behind a huge surplus we didn’t know about,” says Horgan in a memoir to be published this fall .... .... the Horgan NDP government’s only significant departure from balanced budgeting happened in the year of the pandemic, when the deficit soared to $5.6 billion. But in the second year of the pandemic, the economy was on the mend and the accounts were back in surplus. The financial statements forecast a surplus of almost $6 billion when Horgan left office in November 2022.  His successor, David Eby, promptly spent most of it ... CLICK HERE for the full story

If Canadians are serious that every child matters, we should at least know the names of the “missing” Indian Residential Schools children about whom we hear almost daily in mainstream media reports. There are frequent reports of news conferences staged by indigenous band leaders proclaiming new ground penetrating radar (GPR) “discoveries” of unmarked graves at former residential schools. But the reality is that the small number of excavations which have occurred have yielded no human remains, despite stories of clandestine burials told by indigenous knowledge keepers. It’s more than passing strange that excavations have been happening at Winnipeg landfills to find the bodies of indigenous women who were the victims of murder, yet after more than four years of gut-wrenching stories about the apple orchard at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, there has been no excavation at all for the bodies of 200 or more indigenous children alleged to have been secretly buried there ... C...

Canada’s top court needs to quickly decide whether Aboriginal title overrides private property rights, or risk freezing British Columbia’s economy under years of uncertainty. That’s the pitch from Opposition BC Conservative Leader John Rustad in a letter Tuesday appealing to the federal attorney general to intervene in the recent Cowichan Nation court case and send the issue as a reference question to the Supreme Court of Canada. “This is a matter of significant national concern, with particular resonance in British Columbia,” Rustad wrote to Attorney General Sean Fraser ... CLICK HERE for the full story

IMAGE CREDIT:   The Western Producer   There's been some new developments on the international trade front. Unfortunately, none of it will help canola farmers. Prime Minister Mark Carney recently announced that Canada will remove retaliatory tariffs on US goods covered by the Canada-US-Mexico Free Trade Agreement - except for steel, aluminum, and autos. (These are industries concentrated in Eastern Canada, and Ottawa’s decision makes it clear whose interests are being prioritized in federal trade policy.) Meanwhile, Western Canadian canola farmers are still dealing with the consequences of China’s retaliatory tariffs - tariffs that exist only because Ottawa chose to impose heavy duties on Chinese electric vehicles. These punitive measures are directly impacting farmers who produce billions of dollars worth of canola annually, support hundreds of thousands of jobs, and supply essential food products to both Canadians and international trading partners. Yet despite their c...

These days, it seems like two provincial premiers in particular can do no wrong. A poll conducted in the spring suggested that Ontario’s Doug Ford is among the most popular politicians in the country. A new poll published this week (more on that below) shows support for his Progressive Conservatives to be the highest any party has enjoyed in Ontario in decades. Meanwhile, Manitoba’s Wab Kinew continues to top the premier approval ratings rankings and, on Tuesday night, nearly pulled off a stellar byelection upset in a part of the province his New Democrats have never won ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

The BC government says it will consider mandatory codes of conduct for municipal governments after years of calls to strengthen the ad hoc approach that has long been criticized as ineffective. Article content The province did not commit to a schedule for implementing mandatory codes or provide details on how they might be administered and enforced. It will discuss the subject with municipal staff and elected officials in the coming months and aims to have some kind of new measures in place before next year’s municipal elections, a BC Ministry of Municipal Affairs spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday  ... CLICK HERE for the full story

You know, I always thought it was Napoleon — the whole “hundred days” thing. Unsatisfied with involuntary Mediterranean retirement, in the spring of 1815 the Little Corporal took a stroll through France. He started his tour in the scenic French Riviera, announced to the several thousand armed men sent to arrest him at the foot of the Alps that they could shoot their emperor if they dared, strutted into Paris, overthrew the government, reinstated himself as supreme ruler of all he beheld, installed a new constitution, quadrupled the size of the national army, and fought the Battle of Waterloo, all in a blistering hundred days (give or take a few in the name of poetic licence). Ever since, the phrase “hundred days” has carried a mystique associated with vigorous leadership. In one of his lethally effective “fireside chat” radio speeches a few months after taking office, Franklin Delano Roosevelt characterized his initial efforts using the phrase “hundred days,” and I assumed he was indir...

When RCMP Const. Calvin Swustus got the call to travel to BC’s Lower Mainland for a week of training in 1995, he knew was being asked to join some sort of specialized task force, but that’s about it. “When I arrived, I looked around and realized that all the First Nations police members were there,” Swustus recalled in a recent interview with the IJF. “After the first day we realized that, ‘Oh we're going to be taking on investigating residential school crimes against our people.’” The mission hit close to home for Swustus, a member of the Cowichan Tribes who was then 17 years into his career with Vancouver Island RCMP. As a teenager, he’d lost friends to suicide stemming from the trauma they’d experienced at the Kuper Island Indian Residential School. Now, he was being inducted into the RCMP Native Indian Residential School Task Force, a team assembled with the ambitious goal of investigating every single allegation of sexual assault and violence at 15 residential schools in BC  ....

Amid his push to strengthen energy and economic ties with Europe, Prime Minister Mark Carney revealed Tuesday that the federal government will imminently be unveiling major new investments in port infrastructure. “Our government is in the process of unleashing half a trillion dollars of investment in energy infrastructure, port infrastructure, particularly intelligence infrastructure, as well, with AI,” Carney said Tuesday. Speaking alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin, the prime minister said the first of those investments will be announced “in the next two weeks” and pointed to building up the Port of Montreal and “a new port, effectively, in Churchill, Manitoba,” as examples ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

According to a poll released by Angus Reid Institute on Monday, British Columbians are divided on DRIPA – the legislation BC passed in 2019 to align with UNDRIP, the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. “British Columbians are pretty attune to that and they’re quite divided,” said Dave Korzinski with Angus Reid Institute, Monday. The legislation recognizes Indigenous rights and title and involves First Nations in decisions about public land and development ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Government debt is draining thousands of dollars from British Columbians each year—in interest alone, warns a Vancouver-based think tank. BC will spend nearly $4.4 billion in interest on provincial government debt in the 2024–25 fiscal year, or 5.3 per cent of its revenue, according to the Fraser Institute’s Federal and Provincial Debt Interest Costs for Canadians, 2025 edition, published last week. On top of nearly $7.4 billion in federal interest costs, the combined total reaches $11.8 billion, the third highest in the country. “Interest payments are now a considerable budget expense for the federal and many provincial governments”  ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Late last month, I saw a poll reported on X that has been bothering me ever since. The poll by advocacy firm spark* posed two questions: First, it asked respondents whether they prefer leaders who are more “pragmatic” or more “ideological”; then it asked whether they think Pierre Poilievre and Mark Carney are more influenced by these factors (no, the question’s grammar didn’t quite work). On the first question, 80 percent said they preferred leaders to be pragmatic, while just 20 percent wanted them to be ideological. The second question was a closer call, but still decisive: 55 percent thought Poilievre was more ideological against 45 percent who thought he was more pragmatic, while 64 percent deemed Carney to be pragmatic against 36 percent ideological. No doubt the questions capture something important about how Canadians see the two federal leaders, so I don’t fault spark* for asking them ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Canadian healthcare workers deserve the same on-the-job protections as workers in every other sector — and new national standards may finally deliver them. More than 1,700 physicians, nurses, scientists, engineers, occupational health specialists, civil society groups and individuals representing the immunocompromised, people living with long COVID and those who care about public health, have signed a statement supporting proposed updates to the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Z94.4 worker respiratory protection standard. Key support also came from the Canadian Labour Congress and its individual and provincial affiliates (representing more than three million workers and most of the country’s unionized healthcare workers, including the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions), along with Quebec healthcare unions and National Nurses United ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The Conservative Party of BC says the McCourt family’s calls for change “cannot be ignored.” They’ve put together Bailey’s Law, a proposal that includes several reforms to protect women from the tragic fate that Bailey McCourt met in Kelowna on July 4. McCourt, a mother of two young children, was killed in a brutal daytime attack on July 4. Her ex-partner James Plover is charged with her murder, which came just hours after Plover was convicted in connection to a previous assault on McCourt. “Despite his history of violence and the clear risk he posed, no conditions were imposed to ensure Bailey’s safety,” McCourt’s family writes in a letter sent to Premier David Eby and Prime Minister Mark Carney ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Logging trucks in the Upper Walbran Valley were met with an unusual blockade Monday morning — a 15-foot cougar sculpture erected by anonymous forest defenders demanding permanent protection of one of Vancouver Island’s last intact old-growth watersheds. The group, which says it has the blessing of several local First Nations elders, is targeting eight provincially approved cut blocks in Tree Farm License 44. The license is currently held by C̕awak ʔqin Forestry, a limited partnership between the Huu-ay-aht First Nation and Western Forest Products ... CLICK HER E for the full story  

Get set for a return to politics . And what the law actually says about defending your home  First up is Christopher Nardi, a parliamentary reporter at the National Post’s Ottawa bureau, and an old friend of Matt’s. They talk about the end of the summer — yes, sadly it’s true — and what we’ve seen so far from the Carney government. Chris offers some hope that there might be more going on than has met the eye, but he’s also a realist about the challenges the new government is going to face. The two also touch on the Conservatives, and why that party is glad to have its leader back in the House, before musing about the future — if any — of the federal NDP. They aren’t writing the New Democrats off entirely, but making it back from here will be a steep climb. After that, Matt is joined by Ian Runkle, a lawyer with expertise in firearms law and self-defence, and also the voice behind the YouTube channel Runkle of the Bailey. The conversation is all about, as they say, "just the facts....

What’s holding young Canadians back? A lot In 1960, nearly 60 percent of Canadians were married and owned a home by the age of 30. By 2020, that number had fallen to just 15 percent. This isn’t just a marginal change. This represents a total collapse of what used to be considered a normal life trajectory.  The reasons are structural. Housing costs have outpaced incomes for over two decades. Urban planning policies (from exclusionary zoning to costly development charges) have made it harder and more expensive to build homes where people want to live. Labour markets have shifted too: the transition from school to work has become longer, riskier, and less linear. Student debt is up. Wages are flat. Entry-level jobs that once launched careers have been replaced by precarious service work or credential creep. Add it all up, and young Canadians are stuck in a holding pattern ... CLICK HERE for the full story

As he delivered the hard sell pitch last spring for Canada to buy his submarines, Oliver Burkhard, the CEO of Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), used the phrase "strategic partnership" half a dozen times. Canada would be part of "a family," he said. We will — perhaps — soon get a better sense whether that approach is music to the ears of Prime Minister Mark Carney and key members of his cabinet ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

IMAGE CREDIT:   Khelsilem   “The Cowichan ruling has created uncertainty at the very core of our land ownership system. The question of whether Aboriginal title and private ownership can coexist must be answered by the Supreme Court of Canada.” ~~ John Rustad Conservative Official Opposition Leader John Rustad has written to federal Minister of Justice and Attorney General Sean Fraser, urging the Government of Canada to refer the implications of the recent Cowichan Tribes v. Canada (Attorney General), 2025 BCSC 1490 decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. “This judgment raises profound questions of law that go well beyond British Columbia,” said Rustad. “On the one hand, it suggests Aboriginal title may enjoy priority over private ownership, but at the same time it declines to make a clear declaration about fee simple lands. These two positions cannot be reconciled without guidance from the highest court.” Rustad stressed that the lack of clarity leaves British Columbia’...