FIRST READING: As First Nations acquire new land, political control, Beijing appears to take notice

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With B.C. still embroiled in controversy regarding the large-scale transfer of land and political control to First Nations, the Chinese embassy touted the completion of a summit to strengthen ties between Beijing and Indigenous groups.

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Convened on Sept. 3 in Vancouver, the “economic roundtable” included Ernie Daniels, president and CEO of the First Nations Finance Authority.

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In a statement, Chinese Ambassador to Canada Wang Di praised links with First Nations communities and expressed his hope that they would “lay an even more solid foundation for the China—Canada new strategic partnership.”

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“The roundtable meeting discussed the future direction of China-Canada economic and trade cooperation, including cooperation on green transition, indigenous finance and community development,” read a summary by the embassy.

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Also in attendance were former federal finance minister Bill Morneau and B.C. senator Yuen Pau Woo.

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Summits between PRC officials and First Nations representatives have happened before. The Canada China Business Council, for one, has organized three all-Indigenous trade missions to Beijing, the most recent in 2024.

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But the Sept. 3 roundtable is the Beijing-sanctioned event convened in the wake of a series of developments that have markedly increased Indigenous power, particularly in B.C.

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Just one year ago, in August 2025, the B.C. Supreme Court released the landmark Cowichan Tribes decision which effectively ceded 300 hectares of privately owned land in Richmond, B.C. to the control of the Cowichan Tribes First Nation.

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Although the decision is being appealed, the uncertainty has since crashed real estate values in the affected area by as much as 70 per cent, according to a recent interview published by the Business Council of British Columbia.

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Another landmark decision, issued by the B.C. Appeals Court in December 2025, argued that DRIPA – a piece of 2019 legislation which encoded the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People into B.C. – effectively superceded the province’s existing laws.

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The decision specifically struck down the Mineral Tenure Act, one of the oldest laws in B.C., in part because it violated the declaration’s clause that Indigenous peoples “own, use, develop and control” any land that they’ve held traditionally.

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Over the summer, an internal document published by the B.C. Ministry of Finance confirmed for the first time that more than 120,000 hectares of B.C. Crown land is in the queue for transfer to First Nations as “treaty lands.”