Supreme Court rules Aboriginal title can't override private property

The Supreme Court of Canada has declined to hear an appeal from the Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick, upholding a lower court's ruling that Aboriginal title cannot be declared over privately owned land.

The decision matters because it collides directly with a landmark ruling by British Columbia's Supreme Court in the Cowichan Tribes case, which found that Aboriginal title is a "senior interest" superior to fee-simple property ownership. The federal and provincial governments and the City of Richmond are all appealing that decision.

In the New Brunswick case, an appellate judge wrote that allowing Aboriginal title over private land "would sound the death knell of reconciliation with the interests of non-Aboriginal Canadians."

The Crown-Indigenous Relations Department called the Supreme Court's refusal to hear the Wolastoqey appeal an important signal. "Private property rights are fundamental," a spokesperson said, and Ottawa says the ruling will inform arguments in the ongoing Cowichan appeal.

Montrose Properties, the largest private landowner in the Cowichan territory, is separately seeking to reopen that case, claiming it was unfairly left out of the original trial.

The tension between Aboriginal rights and private property protection remains unresolved as multiple cases wind through the courts.