Canadians’ Private Property Is in Danger
Jul 8, 2026
Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada’s Conservative Party and Official Opposition to the current Liberal government, has come out as one of the country’s strongest property rights advocates. On May 21, Poilievre spoke in North Vancouver calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney and his party to support a Conservative-led motion in parliament that would prioritize property rights. Unfortunately, the House of Commons and its Liberal majority voted against Poilievre’s motion.
Poilievre’s motion came after Supreme Court in the province of British Columbia granted the indigenous Cowichan tribe a portion of Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver, in August 2025 after over 500 days of hearings. The decision in Cowichan Tribes vs. Canada upended the land title system in the province by giving the tribes a legal claim to land that is full private residential and commercial properties. According to the ruling, the Cowichan has use and occupational rights to more than 800 acres that is already occupied. More broadly, the court found that any Aboriginal fee simple title is “prior and senior,” whether the land be privately or publicly held now.
Pierre Poilievre understands the centrality of property rights to Canadian prosperity and has endeavored to bring the issue to the forefront of the political debate in Canada. Unfortunately, the House of Commons voted against Poilievre’s motion to protect private property from the claims of indigenous nations.
Section 35 of the 1982 Constitution Act which permits Canada to make laws respecting Aboriginal rights recognized existing treaties with the tribes. Since that time, the Canadian Supreme Court has steadily redefined and expanded the scope of aboriginal rights, even declaring an Aboriginal title to a piece of Crown (public) land in 2014. This was coupled with the passage of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, following the United Nations resolution on the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which prioritized “reconciliation” with indigenous peoples. This philosophy culminated in the British Columbia Supreme Court’s 2025 decision that effectively gives aboriginal titles precedence over private property.
While courts in other provinces have distinguished only publicly held lands to be susceptible to Aboriginal claims, the problem of rampant cession of land to indigenous tribes is deeply troubling for the security of property rights in Canada, especially with the prevalence of land in Canada that was once inhabited by indigenous populations––British Columbia alone has over 1,500 reservations and hundreds of thousands of indigenous people.
The International Property Rights Index put out by the Property Rights Alliance has usually ranked Canada high in terms of property rights protections. The index indicates a strong correlation between robust property rights protections and high economic performance. If Canada does not take concrete action to ensure non-Aboriginal Canadians’ private property, the country’s business environment could suffer greatly. This has already been shown at a Richmond property, where the lender cancelled construction of a warehouse given the court’s ruling. The fallout from this decision could also include decline in home ownership in the affected areas, given the insecure status of private land.
This would come amid a notorious housing crisis in British Columbia’s capital, Vancouver. For years, the city has suffered from lack of affordable housing due to endless red tape and opaque bureaucracy. The C.D. Howe Institute found that government regulation adds roughly $1.3 million to the average home cost in Vancouver. The Prime Minister’s plan to buy thousands of vacant condominiums to turn into affordable housing will do nothing to increase the long-run supply either.
If Canada does not protect private property, it will forfeit a pillar of Western civilization and its economic fortune. The sooner the Prime Minister listens to Pierre Poilievre, the better.