NOTICE OF CIVIL CLAIM: LAND BACK
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AND IN THE COURT OF NATURAL LAW AND INDIGENOUS JURISDICTION
BETWEEN:
AUDREY SIEGL (sχɬemtəna:t), on her own behalf and as a representative of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (MUSQUEAM) NATION, and on behalf of all past, present, and future generations of the Coast Salish Peoples.
PLAINTIFF
AND:
HIS MAJESTY KING CHARLES III, in Right of the United Kingdom and Canada (The Crown); THE HOLY SEE (THE VATICAN) and THE ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF VANCOUVER (The Church).
DEFENDANTS
I. STATEMENT OF FACTS
- Since Time Immemorial: The Plaintiff and her ancestors have occupied, governed, and stewarded the lands and waters now known as Vancouver, British Columbia, specifically including but not limited to the mouth of the Fraser River, the University of British Columbia lands, and Stanley Park.
- Unceded Territory: The xʷməθkʷəy̓əm people have never signed a treaty with the British Crown, nor have they ever ceded, surrendered, or sold their title to the lands in question. The land remains unceded sovereign territory.
- The Doctrine of Discovery: The Defendants’ claim to the land relies wholly on the “Doctrine of Discovery” and the concept of Terra Nullius (nobody’s land)—racist legal fictions explicitly rejected by international human rights standards and the laws of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm.
- Colonial Dispossession:
- The Crown: Through the imposition of the Indian Act, the reserve system, and the assertion of Crown Sovereignty without consent, the Crown has forcibly displaced the Musqueam people from their winter villages and resource sites.
- The Church: In collusion with the Crown, the Catholic Church operated Residential Schools (including St. Mary’s Mission) designed to eradicate Indigenous culture, language, and law, thereby facilitating the theft of land by removing the people from it.
II. LEGAL BASIS OF CLAIM
- Breach of Fiduciary Duty: The Crown has failed in its honour by granting fee simple titles to third parties on unceded lands without the consent of the rightful owners.
- Genocide and Cultural Destruction: The Defendants engaged in a systematic attempt to destroy the Plaintiff’s social and political structures to clear the land for settlement, constituting a crime against humanity and a violation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
- Environmental Degradation: The Crown’s mismanagement of the land—facilitating extractive industries (pipelines, tanker traffic) in the Salish Sea—violates the Plaintiff’s inherent obligation to protect the water and land for future generations.
III. RELIEF SOUGHT
THE PLAINTIFF CLAIMS AGAINST THE DEFENDANTS AS FOLLOWS:
- Immediate Restitution (Land Back): A declaration that the Crown’s assertion of sovereignty over xʷməθkʷəy̓əm territory is null and void, and an order for the immediate transfer of jurisdiction of all Crown lands, including “Crown Land” and Church-held properties, back to the Musqueam Nation.
- Vacating of Title: An order cancelling all fee simple titles granted by the Crown on unceded lands without Musqueam consent.
- Reparations: Damages for the wrongful use and extraction of resources from the territory for the last 150+ years, and for the intergenerational trauma inflicted by the Residential School system.
- Acknowledgment: A formal, public admission by King Charles III and the Pope that the British Crown and Catholic Church have no valid legal or moral claim to the lands of British Columbia.
DATED this 24th day of November, 2025.
(Signed) sχɬemtəna:t (Audrey Siegl) Ancestral Name Holder & Land Defender