“The province has created considerable uncertainty regarding the long-term viability of Crown land tenures on Haida Gwaii and elsewhere in British Columbia,” Thomas Isaac, a Vancouver-based partner specializing in Aboriginal law at Cassels Brock & Blackwell, said in an interview.
Recognizing Aboriginal title over fee simple lands—also known as full private property ownership rights and a fundamental component of B.C.’s real property system—while maintaining private property rights is legally contradictory, Isaac said.
The Haida agreement is particularly concerning for the mining industry. It’s wary that B.C., ranked second in Canada in terms of exploration and development spending, with the largest gold major, Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM), investing in the Red Chris and Brucejack mines in its northwest Golden Triangle, could export the concept and tensions across the country.
Progressive BC
B.C. has already been a…
