Question Period Note: Esquimalt Nation’s Hatley Park Litigation

N.A.

• We are aware of the lawsuit filed on March 27, 2026 by the Esquimalt Nation in the Supreme Court of British Columbia relating to Hatley Park.
• A copy of the statement of claim has been shared with the Government of Canada.
• The claim is at a very preliminary stage and is currently under review.

The Esquimalt Nation filed a statement of claim in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on March 27, 2026, seeking a declaration of Aboriginal title over the lands now known as Hatley Park. Hatley Park is currently owned by the Department of National Defence and is located in Colwood, British Columbia, on the southern coast of Vancouver Island. The claim alleges that, in and before 1846, the lands were exclusively occupied by the Lekwungen-speaking peoples, of whom the Esquimalt Nation and Songhees Nation are the sole modern-day descendants.
Songhees Nation, part of the Te’mexw Treaty Association alongside four other First Nations, is nearing the completion of modern treaty negotiations under the BC Treaty Commission's six-stage process, having signed the Agreement in Principle in 2015. Draft treaties are in the final stages of legal and policy review within each party’s respective processes, supporting readiness to initial the agreements and proceed to Nation-led ratification. Consultation with neighbouring First Nations in shared territories, including Esquimalt Nation, remains ongoing to support treaty finalization.
The Esquimalt Nation’s claim alleges that Canada has contravened the honour of the Crown, breached their fiduciary and constitutional obligations, and infringed Esquimalt Nation’s s. 35 Aboriginal rights and title interests by proposing that a portion of Hatley Park become Songhees treaty lands on the effective date of the Songhees Treaty. They seek a declaration of Aboriginal title to Hatley Park, a declaration that the designation of Hatley Park as Songhees treaty lands violates Esquimalt’s Aboriginal rights, a declaration that Canada has breached the honour of the Crown and/or the Crown’s fiduciary duty, a permanent injunction against the transfer of Hatley Park to Songhees as treaty lands, unquantified damages and costs.
Canada has engaged with the Esquimalt Nation over many years, with ongoing consultation related to the Te’mexw Treaty Association negotiations since before the 2015 Agreement in Principle. Since 2016, this engagement has expanded into broader reconciliation discussions through a Recognition of Indigenous Rights and Self-Determination (RIRSD) table with Canada and British Columbia. Through these discussions, Canada and British Columbia have advanced a reconciliation and accommodation approach to addressing impacts to Esquimalt’s section 35 rights that includes a combined land and financial package, including a portion of Hatley Park, informed by a 2022 agreement between Songhees and Esquimalt regarding the potential apportionment of lands. Esquimalt is no longer supportive of this approach.
The litigation is at a very preliminary stage and is still under review.

If pressed on concerns of private landholders
• In their claim, the Plaintiffs indicate that their claim addresses only Crown land, not private land interests.
• In all Aboriginal title litigation, the Government of Canada is committed to maintaining legal clarity and stability in land ownership while respecting Aboriginal rights and title, and the Court process.