Provincial Election
We have sent a questionnaire to all candidates for the Provincial Legislature who are running in Trust area and will publish their responses on our website as they are received. Please keep checking our website HERE for responses.
Membership Renewals Due in October
Your membership renewals are so important to us! Approaching the end of our first year as a society, we now have over 100 members. We especially need your memberships dues in order to support our website, print our brochures, recruit new members and fund legal inquiries. Most importantly, our influence with the Islands Trust depends partly on showing a large membership throughout the islands.
Please go HERE to renew online and encourage others to join.
Memberships are only $15 (individual), family memberships $25 (family). Memberships received in June, July or August of 2024 will be extended to September of 2025. If this is you, you will have already received an email from us.
We especially need members on the smaller islands – Saturna, Denman, Hornby, Lasqueti and Thetis. If you know anyone there who might be interested, let us know and we will send them an invitation with our new brochure.
NEW! You can now make a donation directly to our legal fund. Just send a note with your cheque or e-transfer or email to us to that effect.
Your memberships and donations will be supporting this work next year:
Continuing to recruit trustee candidates for the Islands Trust trustees to run in 2026.
Continuing to evaluate the feasibility of taking the Trust to court over not implementing their legal obligation to protect the unique amenities and environment of the Trust islands.
Reviewing the draft Trust Policy Statement and presenting detailed comments to the Trust Council, our members and subscribers.
In order to evaluate requests for rezoning for more density, encouraging all Local Trust Committees to determine “Build Out”, for their island – how many residences are possible under their current zoning if all possible subdivisions occur?
Below is a list of the work we have done to represent you and expand our membership over the past year:
Sent three letters and delegations to the Trust Council objecting to their reinterpretation that the Trust Mandate “may include issues such as, but not limited to, housing, livelihoods, infrastructure and tourism” and two letters to the Minister of Municipalities asking for them to enforce the Trust Mandate.
Helped coordinate a letter from 34 previous trustees objecting to the reinterpretation of the trust mandate and the secretive way in which it was done.
Coordinated a large demonstration outside the June Trust Council meeting objecting to their reinterpretation of the Trust Mandate.
Presented a delegation at the June Trust Council meeting objecting to the lack of firm requirements for protecting the environment in the new draft Trust Policy Statement.
Staffed Friends’ information tables at events on Pender and on Mayne Island. The Galiano Market Committee has refused our request for a table. We continue to push for this opportunity to reach Galiano islanders.
Introduced ourselves to all the conservancy associations in the Trust area.
Met with the Gulf islands Alliance to explore opportunities to work together.
Developed a Friends of the Gulf Islands Society website and brochure.
Met with MLA, Adam Olsen of the Green Party and Rob Botterell, the Green Party candidate for Saanich North and the Islands in the upcoming BC election.
The Trust Policy Statement (TPS) establishes policies that Local Trust Committee’s land use bylaws and OCPs must reflect.
The May 2024 draft TPS has been amended based on recent Trust Council Committee of the Whole meetings and a red-lined version (noting changes) is included in the Sept TC meeting agenda package on P. 172.
As you would expect, the word “environment” occurs throughout the TPS. However, the glossary defines “environment” as “The components of the Earth, including: land, water and air, including all layers of the atmosphere, all organic and inorganic matter and living organisms…”. This sounds to us like it includes buildings, infrastructure, people, their homes, etc. In other words, everything. The Islands Trust is supposed to be protecting the “unique amenities and environment” of the Gulf Islands. We say that in the context of the Trust Act, and the reasons for its genesis, the word “environment” means the natural environment. If the environment is defined as including everything, the Islands Trust means nothing.
We organized a comment on this during the Town Hall session on Tuesday, September 24 at the Quarterly Trust Council meeting September 24-26 in Nanaimo. During the meeting, there was an attempt, initiated by Kristina Evans, trustee from South Pender and supported by some others, to remove the word “prioritize” from the TPS, when referring to the protection of the environment. Fortunately, a motion to replace this word with a weaker word – “advance” – was defeated. This meeting recording will be posted at some point and can be viewed by Zoom HERE. We invite you to listen.