Decades ago one of B.C.'s top judges described the tension between the concept of Aboriginal title and the reality of private property ownership in British Columbia as a "cloud."

Once on the "far horizon," then-B.C. Appeal Court Justice Mary Southin said legal questions about the status of title on properties ranging from ranches to houses to Vancouver office towers had grown from the size of "a child's hand" to "lower over the whole of the Province."

Last week, just as Southin predicted it eventually would, the "cloud" touched down in Richmond.

A townhall full of homeowners who just learned they may have to share land title with the Quw'utsun (Cowichan) Nation gathered to hear the city's mayor and lawyers explain the implications of a court decision very few have read, but on which n

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