RICHMOND, B.C. — “We’re having a sit down and talk with the First Nations — but so far, all that they’ve said is ‘ we’re overreacting ,’” Richmond mayor Malcolm Brodie told a gaggle of reporters — his tone indignant — before Tuesday night’s Richmond public hearing on the B.C. supreme court decision, Cowichan v. Canada, that jeopardizes private, fee simple property rights in the province , and perhaps all of Canada.

“I think that this is a complete and utter shock, and that it’s a ruling that threatens to undermine the entire land title system that we have in this province. And we’ve had it for over a century,” said Brodie.

Anger, blame, and deflection: those were the themes of Tuesday night’s hearing.

Not a theme: reconciliation. No representatives from the Cowichan Nation s

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