The Islands Trust is moving forward with developing a protocol agreement with Quw’utsun (Cowichan) Nation, representing perhaps the most significant and collaborative effort yet by trustees hoping to fulfill commitments made through its 2019 Reconciliation Action Plan.
Through a unanimous vote Wednesday, July 24, the Trust’s Executive Committee have tasked staff with developing the agreement in cooperation with the five member nations of Quw’utsun Nation –– Cowichan Tribes, Stz’uminus, Penelakut Tribes, Halalt First Nation and Lyackson First Nation.
The process stems partly from a follow-up meeting in June –– characterized by staff as “overdue” –– addressing a 2021 letter from Quw’utsun Nation to Salt Spring Island staff. Islands Trust staff met with Cowichan Tribes staff –– as they were among signatories to the letter –– and they learned that rather than individual protocol agreements with each of the five member First Nations, a collective agreement was preferred.
“It was a great meeting,” said Trust planning services director Stefan Cermak. “We listened and learned a lot.”
Currently, Quw’utsun Nation and the province have a government-to-government agreement, and the Islands Trust has the authority to enter into its own agreements under Section 9 of the Islands Trust Act, according to Trust legislative services director David Marlor.
Protocol agreements with First Nations were among several steps Islands Trust Council (ITC) committed to in its Reconciliation Action Plan; the Islands Trust does have a current protocol agreement with Lyackson, although according to a staff report that has not been referenced or implemented in years. Staff said it was expected that agreement would be rescinded in favour of any broader agreement with Quw’utsun Nation.
Lasqueti Island trustee Tim Peterson, who also chairs Salt Spring Island’s Local Trust Committee (LTC), said he hoped there would be some consideration for making the work of LTCs “a bit more nimble” when local committees want to meaningfully engage with First Nations.
“When we look at the interest of Local Trust Committees wanting to do relationship building,” said Peterson, “I think we’ve all experienced fairly long timelines in things that on the surface look fairly straightforward, such as letters.”
Marlor noted that while ITC has not delegated the authority to enter into agreements to local committees, they likely could, to a point.
“The process right now is a committee could ask staff to begin the work,” said Marlor. “However, it would be a Trust Council bylaw to enter into an agreement.”
Executive Committee chair and Thetis Island local trustee Peter Luckham seemed optimistic.
“We’re often criticized as being slow at these things,” said Luckham. “If we had a mechanism to do that, that might be a good way to go. Clearly, we’ve had difficulty with the management of existing protocols, and existing conversations with nations, right down to the individual letter level.”
But, he added, that has largely been a problem caused by lack of resources –– specifically an excess of staff vacancies.
“We have now allocated resources to specifically handle that level of communications, and manage protocol agreements and meetings and the like,” he said. “Presumably, we’re not going to make those mistakes again.”
Next steps will be a letter from Luckham as ITC chair to chief and council of Quw’utsun Nation. If they express interest, Trust staff will meet and work with Quw’utsun Nation staff and legal counsel to develop a draft agreement for Trust Council’s consideration and forwarding to the municipal affairs ministry for approval.