The Islands Trust says it’s tackling high costs within its $11-million budget by slashing spending with local newspapers — so far eliminating three islands’ public notices from the pages of the Gulf Islands Driftwood.

After motions passed by the Trust’s Executive Committee meeting Wednesday, Aug. 6, islanders on Mayne, Saturna and North Pender islands will soon only be able to find public notices when staff publish them online, as adopted bylaws for those islands mandate posting only on the Islands Trust website and on its “social media page.”

While not specified in any of the three bylaws, staff reports indicated that the language referred to the Islands Trust’s Facebook page, which has 974 followers.

“This simplifies administrative processes and reduces costs,” planning director Stefan Cermak told committee members, “by removing the need to advertise in the print newspaper.”

Wednesday’s three bylaws — now endorsed by the Executive Committee — are the first fruits of a harmonizing effort that in June led Trust Council to approve a policy supporting a “model” public notice bylaw — one that Local Trust Committees (LTCs) should follow, according to policy text, unless they legislate otherwise. So far the Mayne, Saturna and North Pender LTCs agreed, and voted to use the model bylaw in their Local Trust Areas.

Cermak told the committee that the Islands Trust spent just over $16,000 last year on public notifications in the Driftwood, some $7,000 of which was for notices on Salt Spring Island, with the remaining $9,000 spread among notices for other Gulf Islands; those numbers were confirmed as roughly correct by the newspaper.

According to Driftwood reporting, the Islands Trust’s annual spending with the newspaper represents a small fraction of taxpayer costs associated with the issues behind most of those public notices — notably those related to informing the public about development permits and rezoning applications. In February, an Islands Trust analysis estimated employee hours on development permits alone cost the organization just over $112,000 in a single quarter — which would pencil out to nearly $450,000 in 2024.

That same analysis said application fee revenue covered roughly one-tenth of that cost, with the remainder borne by taxpayers. A trustee-prompted initiative to review whether those application fees should be adjusted remains incomplete.

On communications more generally, currently planned spending may be expected to take up the slack; the Islands Trust’s 2025/26 operational budget — covering non-salary operational expenses for communications activities, which would include print notices as well as website improvements and paid social media advertising — already sits at $45,000, with a staffing estimate from public job posting information of at least an additional $69,000 to $79,000 annually.

The approved budget does not break out a specific line item for social media buys, nor are there published plans to reduce the communications budget once newspaper notices are reduced in number or eliminated.

Salt Spring Island trustee Laura Patrick, who also chairs the Executive Committee, clarified that similar to a “status quo” preference she had seen emanating from Gabriola Island with respect to its own public notice procedures, Salt Spring’s LTC for now would continue “doing what we’ve been doing.”

“The Driftwood is absolutely the right place [for public notices] on Salt Spring,” said Patrick. “I want to see the Driftwood maintained as long and as strong as possible.”

Fellow Salt Spring Island trustee Jamie Harris said last month that he also opposed shifting away from newspaper notices — despite what he saw as a “biased view, basically fake news that comes out of [the Driftwood]” — but framed his position as a matter of maintaining local autonomy.

“I don’t think we should change the way we’re doing it here, especially if it’s coming from the Trust Council,” Harris told other trustees at the Salt Spring Island LTC meeting July 10. “We would be exacerbating [the Trust’s] democratic representation issues by taking what they say and bringing it to Salt Spring.”

Founded in 1960, the Driftwood’s first public notice related to the Islands Trust was published in May 1974, when the newspaper printed the full text of the then-new Islands Trust Act, as introduced by Municipal Affairs Minister James Lorimer.

An online fundraising effort hopes to help a Salt Spring family as they recover from injuries sustained in a B.C. Day long weekend vehicle collision on Vancouver Island.

A GoFundMe.com page has been set up by Petra Hazenboom and Kirsten Waddell on behalf of the Hancock family. Hazenboom shared that Taryn and Allan Hancock and their daughter Sage were involved in a head-on collision during a family weekend in Lake Cowichan Saturday, Aug. 2. All three have received care at the trauma unit at Victoria General Hospital, according to Hazenboom, and they likely face a long recovery.

“This accident has turned their world upside down,” wrote Hazenboom. “All three are receiving critical care, and their recovery will require extended hospital stays, medical treatments and rehabilitation.”

Hazenboom said in an Aug. 11 update that “Taryn and Sage are looking to be discharged from the hospital in the next few days. Allan will remain at VGH while he continues to recover from his shattered femur, broken arm, ribs, nose and sternum as well as other less serious injuries.”

She said a rental location has been secured in Victoria for Taryn and Sage to continue to heal and remain close to Allan.

“Please continue to put the Hancocks in your thoughts and prayers as they go through this difficult time,” said Hazenboom.

Donations of any size are welcomed at the gofundme page.

A dramatic truck fire on Salt Spring’s Whims Road that sent acrid smoke across the island didn’t spread to surrounding trees, according to officials, who remind residents and visitors that fire danger conditions across most of B.C. remain elevated — a little rain notwithstanding.

Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue (SSIFR) were called Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 5, to the single-vehicle blaze, with what became five apparatus and ten members, according to SSIFR Assistant Fire Chief Ken Akerman, who said a mix of career and paid-on-call firefighters responded from multiple island fire halls.

“We were able to keep the fire contained to the vehicle and about 30 feet into the bush,” said Akerman. “At this point the cause of the fire is still being determined.”

The Whims Road fire came shortly before Tuesday night’s light rainfall, and after five SSIFR members had been deployed to join the hundreds of firefighters responding to the Wesley Ridge wildfire on Vancouver Island. 

That fire has grown to over 1,300 acres, according to the BC Wildfire Service.

Akerman said the SSIFR members went in two separate mutual aid deployments, and in two vehicles — the three-ton wildland fire truck from Fulford’s fire hall and one of the district’s water tender trucks — but added that the department is using reserve apparatus to ensure they remain fully complimented at home.

“We are still in extreme fire conditions,” said Akerman. “As a reminder, there is still no burning allowed on Salt Spring at this point.”

Salt Spring Island’s campfire ban went into effect July 17. For the latest information on current wildfire activity, burning restrictions, road closures and air quality advisories, visit bcwildfire.ca. The saltspringfire.com website has more local information, including a “cheat sheet” describing restrictions related to high-risk activities such as chainsawing and mechanical land clearing. 

BY SSI PRIMARY CARE NETWORK

South Island Division of Family Practice

While it can be difficult to see improvements being made to healthcare systems from the outside, a new partnership between local family doctors and other agencies is poised to make a difference on Salt Spring Island. 

Since joining the South Island Division of Family Practice (SIDFP) in March of 2024, Salt Spring physicians and partner groups have been engaged in the process of creating a primary care network (PCN) for the island. The following article from the SIDFP explains how a PCN operates, the benefits to our community and the importance of people without a family doctor on the island to use the Health Connect Registry to indicate their need for one.

How PCNs work

A PCN is a partnership between local family doctors, the Division of Family Practice, the First Nations Health Authority, Island Health and other community organizations. Together, they work to improve access to team-based, comprehensive primary care in your community.

Each PCN is guided by a multi-year service plan, developed collaboratively by local physicians and partners. Once approved, this plan provides funding and resources to support the recruitment of new doctors, nurse practitioners and allied health professionals.

PCNs bring together family doctors and nurse practitioners, known as primary care providers along with allied health professionals, who work as a team to deliver long-term, personalized care. These providers:

• Use a team-based approach to enhance patient care.

• Support one another, drawing on their unique strengths and skills.

• Connect patients with specialized services, especially for vulnerable populations.

• Improve access to care by helping more people find a regular provider.

Salt Spring Island joins

SIDFP was established in 2010 to support family doctors in the South Island region. In March 2024, Salt Spring Island physicians joined the SIDFP and started PCN planning.

With support from the SIDFP and PCN, and in collaboration with the Province of British Columbia, the Ministry of Health  and Doctors of BC, the Salt Spring Island Primary Care Network (SSIPCN) Service Plan was approved. This plan brings added resources to the island, including:

• Family doctors and nurse practitioners 

• Social workers and mental health professionals; 

• Registered nurses and Indigenous wellness providers. 

These professionals will work together in local clinics using a team-based care model. 

Community benefits

Salt Spring Island residents will benefit from the team-based care model through faster access to care, more personalized and coordinated support, and improved continuity with a consistent care team. This inclusive approach addresses a wide range of health needs — physical, mental and social — while also supporting vulnerable populations such as seniors, youth and Indigenous community members. By sharing the workload among providers, the model helps reduce burnout and strengthens the long-term sustainability of healthcare on the island.

Local Working Group

In fall 2024, the Salt Spring Island PCN Working Group began implementing the community’s Primary Care Network plan. While supported by funding for 11 full-time equivalent positions to enhance primary care services, the island still faces major challenges. These include a shortage of healthcare providers, limited clinic space and a lack of affordable housing — all compounded by the island’s rural geography. These barriers make it difficult to recruit and retain staff or expand services. The working group is actively collaborating with the community and partners to address these issues, though progress will require sustained funding and long-term commitment.

Next Steps

One of the group’s first priorities is to reduce the attachment gap — the number of people without a family doctor or nurse practitioner.

To help, SSIPCN is promoting the Health Connect Registry, a centralized waitlist for people seeking a primary care provider. When a provider in the community becomes available to take on patients in their practice, the PCN team will contact those on the list.

If you or someone you care for needs a family doctor or nurse practitioner, please register at Health Connect Registry. Or to learn more about the next steps and how to manage your registration, visit  After you register.  

Transformation takes time and will happen over the course of the coming months and years. More opportunities to learn about SSIPCN will be available this fall.

Visit our website: southislanddivision.ca.

After years of input, reviews and revisions, the 26-member Islands Trust Council has taken a significant step towards adopting a new Policy Statement, passing first reading for the revised guiding document and kicking off what Gabriola Island trustee and Trust Executive Committee vice-chair Tobi Elliott called a “period of intense public consultation.” 

The motion to carry forward passed handily (17-3), as did a related one to begin the substantial referral process, sending copies of the draft document out to federal, provincial and regional agencies, Indigenous Governing Bodies, school and improvement district boards and organizations across and adjacent to the Islands Trust Area.  

For the general public, according to Trust Area Services director Clare Frater, they can soon expect a variety of opportunities to provide comment, from a newly developed online survey and community workshops this fall to events likely to be put on by individual Local Trust Committees — all tailored to present the draft and solicit comment. 

“We will also be providing copies in select public libraries throughout the islands for those who have accessibility challenges with online surveys,” said Frater, who shepherded the exhaustive Policy Statement revision process for trustees.  

“These islands are beloved by many,” Frater continued. “I think everyone involved in the project is very excited to hear the feedback; we haven’t heard from communities [about] this document in a number of years, and really look forward to hearing the values and visions that everyone holds for the Trust Area.” 

The Policy Statement has not seen meaningful revision in three decades, with the current iteration described as an attempt to address shortfalls in the document such as addressing the climate crisis, growing housing needs and a commitment to reconciliation with local First Nations. 

Early last year, staff wrangled 32 individual Trust Council resolutions into draft language changes, and trustees began the long process of going through it all. 

Tuesday’s draft contained changes that had been recommended by both the Trust’s Committee of the Whole and the Trust Programs Committee since Trust Council last endorsed revisions in September 2024 — recommendations that emerged from the initiative of individual trustees, who put forward motions for changes surrounding issues of importance to them or their constituents, as well as from staff advice that was then moved forward by trustees. Some changes were suggested by legal counsel, according to staff reports, likely as late as this week as the meeting included a short in-camera session to receive legal advice. 

Despite the motion to pass first reading carrying 17-3, the electronic meeting Tuesday night was not entirely without contention. As might be expected for a guiding document, much of the discussion centred on priorities — although there still seemed some distance between trustees regarding what those might be, whether prioritizing anything undermined ITC’s recent focus on more “balanced” decision-making, and even what legal ramifications could emerge in “prioritizing” one thing over another. 

Several trustees were concerned over draft text that used the word “prioritize” within the document, and that such language might put directive policies — ecosystem integrity was specifically mentioned — above all others. An 11th-hour motion to replace “prioritize” with “establish opportunities for advancing” in directive policies surrounding ecosystem integrity failed, as did another seeking legal advice on the “interpretive implications” of using the word “prioritize” in that section.  

Trustees last planned a first reading of an updated Policy Statement back in the summer of 2021, but hit the brakes after islanders criticized the document’s proposed content and the process that produced it — an uproar that sparked everything from interest group mass-mailings to in-person protests, largely expressing frustration with a lack of public input. 

Just three islanders spoke during the meeting’s public comment period Tuesday night, and trustees brought just a handful of relatively minor motions to adjust language in the now 36-page document that passed first reading. Trustees and staff reiterated the first reading was a mark of the process beginning, not wrapping up. 

“There’s lots of runway left,” said Elliott. “I trust that through the process, we are going to get there together.” 

To follow the process, visit islandstrust.bc.ca/programs/islands-2050. 

Construction is nearly finished, and a nonprofit has been selected to operate a supportive-and-subsidized housing project on Salt Spring, where islanders have eagerly awaited new homes since early 2022.  

BC Housing announced Wednesday, July 30 that the Lookout Housing and Health Society is being tapped to provide 24/7 staffing and support services to future residents at the Drake Road development, which will provide a total of 36 new housing units — 32 “deeply affordable” supportive homes for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, according to the agency, and an additional four affordable rental homes for low- to middle-income earners.  

Residents are expected to begin moving in this fall, BC Housing said in an update, with homes being offered “first to former residents of Seabreeze Inne and current residents of Kings Lane who meet the requirements for subsidized housing, and then to other Salt Spring Island residents.” BC Housing leased the land at 154 Kings Lane from the Gulf Islands Seniors Residence Association (GISRA) in 2022 and placed temporary modular housing units there for some housing-insecure islanders after the provincial agency ceased operations at the Seabreeze Inne. 

Salt Spring’s Capital Regional District (CRD) directory Gary Holman called Lookout’s selection “good news” at a recent meeting of the island’s Local Community Commission; news of the pick had unsurprisingly spread on-island well in advance of BC Housing’s announcement. 

“They’re talking about September for occupancy,” said Holman. “So this is going to be really important for our community to have a facility like this.” 

Founded in 1971, Lookout previously added Salt Spring Island to its list of served communities in the broader Vancouver Island region, which includes Victoria, Duncan, Courtenay and Campbell River, when they acquired the Dean Road multi-suite house in 2022 formerly owned by the Salt Spring Island Land Bank Society. They provide a range of housing and health services to help build “resilience, independence and hope,” according to BC Housing, with the stated goal of “transforming lives and strengthening community.”  

BC Housing had originally announced it would build 28 units of supportive housing at the 5.5-acre parcel back in January of 2022, as the agency — and then-Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Housing David Eby — touted the fast-tracking of the project on land leased from the CRD.  

Construction delays plagued the project, which finally saw the first modular units arrive at the site in February.  

“The non-profit operator will work with residents, staff and the surrounding community on an ongoing basis to address any safety concerns quickly and collaboratively,” read a statement from BC Housing. “We will share site contact information with neighbours closer to the fall opening date.”