Mowachaht/Muchalalaht First Nation files claim against B.C. seeking title to traditional territories

A First Nation whose people were the first to greet European explorers on Vancouver Island almost 250 years ago is taking the province of British Columbia to court, seeking title to its traditional territories and financial compensation.

Chief Mike Maquinna, a descendent of Chief Maquinna, who met British explorer Capt. James Cook in 1776, says the claim in B.C. Supreme Court seeks to return decision-making, resource and ecological stewardship to the Mowachaht/Muchalalaht First Nation.

He says the province has been acting as the sole decision-making authority in the Gold River-Tahsis areas of northern Vancouver Island, especially with regard to the forest resource, without the consent of his nation.

"The natural resources of our land have been taken," he said at a news conference Thursday morning. "We want to correct rights and wrongs here.... [our rights] have been infringed upon since the time of contact."

Hereditary Chief Jerry Jack says they are filing a claim seeking title to about 430,000 hectares of land from Friendly Cove to Tahsis in the north and Buttle Lake in the east and an undisclosed amount of financial compensation.

Jack says the land title case does not make any claims against private landowners, homeowners or recreational hunting and fishing operators.

"We're only seeking relief against the province," he said. "Homeowners in Gold River and Tahsis, you don't have anything to worry about. All the lodges ... we just want acknowledgement."

Jack says the First Nation decided against pursuing formal treaty talks with the federal and provincial governments years ago and has been planning the land title court case "for many decades."

CBC News contacted both the Ministry of Forests and the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation for a response and was told because the matter is before the courts, no comment would be provided.