A panel of three B.C. Supreme Court judges has ruled in favor of the Nuchatlaht First Nation, granting them full title over their entire 210 square kilometer land claim on Nootka Island – and the decision was unanimous.
“It was indeed a historic day for Nuchatlaht Tyee Ha’wilth (Chief) Jordan Michael, and the peoples of the Nuchatlaht Nation when their long fought legal battle for their lands was ruled in their favour in the Court of Appeal. The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council congratulates the Nuchatlaht on this huge win in the courts,” said NTC President Judith Sayers in a written statement.
“The Appeal decision is the first time a First Nation has been awarded its entire claim area,” said lawyer, Owen Leggatt-Stewart of Woodward and Company LLP, the legal firm representing Nuchatlaht First Nation.
The decision came down on April 2, 2026. In it, the court determined that Justice Elliot Myers, erred in an earlier case, when he ruled that Nuchatlaht had proven title over a very small sliver of their claim, about 11km along the shoreline, going no deeper that 100 meters above sea level.
The Nuchatlaht title case has been weaving its way through the court system for nearly a decade, beginning in 2017. The small nation, numbering about 200 members at that time, were frustrated at the lack of progress and the financial cost at treaty table. They turned to the court system following the success of the 2014 Tsilhqot’in decision.
The Supreme Court of Canada for the first time, granted a declaration of Aboriginal title to over 1,700 square kilometres of land to the Tsilhqot’in Nations. The Court ruled that title is not limited to specific, intensively occupied sites, like villages, but can cover broader territories regularly used for hunting, fishing, and trapping.
The Tsilhqot’in Nation was represented by a legal team from Woodward and Company LLP who focus exclusively on serving Indigenous governments, businesses and organizations.
In May 2023, the BC Supreme Court ruled in Nuchatlaht’s favor as Justice Elliot Myers found that the small First Nation satisfied the legal test to be granted title over their territory on Nootka Island.
But they were not granted the entire 210 square kilometer claim on northern Nootka Island. Instead, the nation was granted a strip of shoreline where villages once stood. It was believed by newcomers at the time that the rugged terrain and dense forests would have prevented the Nuchatlaht from going inland.
But there were thousands of silent witnesses, some nearly 500 years old, in the form of culturally modified trees and stumps (CMT’s) that testified to the Nuchatlaht’s use of their inland forest resources.
An appeal in BC Supreme Court was launched by Nuchatlaht in the fall of 2025 where the panel of judges heard four days of testimony in Vancouver, BC.
On April 2, 2026, news came that the Nuchatlaht First Nation won a landmark B.C. Court of Appeal case, securing Aboriginal title over their entire 210-square-kilometre claim on Nootka Island.
“This is a big decision, for both lawyers and First Nations. It recognizes that Aboriginal title is territorial, and indicates the evidence required to prove it. The Appeal decision is the first time a First Nation has been awarded its entire claim area. Nuchatlaht’s victory was built upon their trial, the fastest Aboriginal title trial since the 1970s. Nuchatlaht have shown great leadership throughout the process,” said Lawyer Owen Leggatt Stewart.
Judith Sayers, NTC President says she feels good about the decision and is very excited for the Nuchatlaht victory. “(it is) very satisfying to see a Ha’wilth’s territory recognized after so many years of struggling for this recognition. Also, I know they have a lot of work ahead of them restoring their lands after the ravages of forestry development and know they will work with the land to their standards as they steward the land,” she stated.
It has been reported that the Nuchatlaht Nation turned to the courts so that they can regain control of their territories and properly steward their lands, which have been heavily impacted by commercial forestry. The court also found that the B.C. Forest Act and B.C. Park Act do not apply to these Aboriginal title lands.
The court recognized that the Nuchatlaht had exclusively occupied and used this territory for hunting, gathering, and fishing. The ruling acknowledges evidence of thousands of "culturally modified trees" as proof of long-standing occupation.
The provincial government has stated that it is reviewing the decision and will explore its legal options including a potential appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
