David Robbins

In his role of partner at Woodward and Company, David’s core law practice is focused on finding remedies for historic and ongoing Crown interferences with Aboriginal occupation and use of lands and resources. David is lead counsel for theQuw’utsun (Cowichan) Nation in their landmark recent judgment Cowichan Tribes v. Canada (Attorney General), 2025 BCSC 1490: the court declared Quw’utsun Aboriginal title to settlement lands on the main channel of the Fraser River in Greater Vancouver and Aboriginal right to fish adjacent waters for food; it also issued precedent setting declarations that Canada and Richmond’s fee simple titles are invalid, while British Columbia has a duty to negotiate reconciliation of the Crown granted fee simple interests held by third parties with the Quw’utsun Aboriginal title. David was also counsel for theTsilhqot’in Nation in both their landmark rulings: in Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia, 2007 BCSC 1700,the trial court found Tsilhqot’in Aboriginal title, being the first judicial recognition of existing Aboriginal title, along with a Tsilhqot’in Aboriginal right to hunt and trap for a moderate livelihood; on appeal in Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia, 2014 SCC 44, the Supreme Court of Canada issued the first ever declaration of Aboriginal title in Canada.