Shaw: B.C. appraisers hedge against Aboriginal title uncertainty – Castanet
Mar 18, 2026
The B.C. NDP government keeps insisting Aboriginal title rulings won’t affect private property but last week, the province’s appraisal industry started preparing for the opposite.
The latest red flag appeared online courtesy of Wesgroup chief development officer Brad Jones, who posted a line from a recent appraisal received on what he said was an ordinary commercial property in Metro Vancouver: “We assume the subject property is not subject to a land claim and they are valued as if unencumbered.”
In other words: appraisers are starting to flag Aboriginal title claims as a potential risk to private property values.
