B.C. First Nation sues to reclaim lands alleged 'alienated' by Indian Agent family

Dzawada'enuxw First Nation filed a B.C. Supreme Court suit on Jan. 26 seeking a declaration that roughly five square kilometres at the head of Kingcome Inlet were 'Indian Settlement Lands', naming Interfor, the Nature Trust of B.C., the province and Canada.

Dzawada'enuxw First Nation has filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court seeking to recover about five square kilometres at the head of Kingcome Inlet. The suit, filed Jan. 26, alleges those lands were "alienated" more than a century ago by an Indian Agent and his extended family. The parcels are currently held in fee simple by Interfor, the Nature Trust of B.C., and the province of British Columbia, and the case also names the Government of Canada. The nation says the area included village sites, cultivated land and burial grounds prior to the disputed transfers. Key facts: - The claim targets roughly five square kilometres including an estuary and lower portions of a glacier-fed river valley near the Dzawada'enuxw's Ukwanalis Village. - Defendants named in the suit include Interfor, the Nature Trust of B.C., the provincial government and the Government of Canada. - The legal argument leans on a 2025 Cowichan decision and traces reserve allotments and surveys from the 1870s–1880s that the nation says excluded lands previously used by its people. - The nation alleges Indian Agents and related settlers benefitted from disposals of the land and that damage to a Dzawada'enuxw burial site occurred by 1914. Summary: If the court accepts the nation's novel argument, the lands could be declared "Indian Settlement Lands," which would not automatically create fee-simple title but could strengthen later claims to Aboriginal title. Undetermined at this time.