A standing-room-only crowd filled the Crofton Room at the Harbour House Hotel last Tuesday night to learn more about the Islands Trust Policy Statement (TPS) Amendment Project and give feedback.
It followed a meeting held for the same purpose but attended by fewer people at Fulford Hall in December, and with similar dominant messages heard.
Several of the 16 people speaking at the Harbour House on Jan. 13 felt the draft TPS did not give enough priority to environmental protection, with a few suggesting the updating process be halted now and passed on to a new set of trustees to be elected in October, in effect making it an election issue.
Phil Dearden observed the high level of interest signalled by the full house and said, “I don’t quite see the need to rush this before the elections, when there is something that’s so pivotal to the future. It might be wise to have this after the elections, because then that will have the democratic process endorsing this policy, rather than it being something already in the bag.”
Ronald Wright, of the Keep Salt Spring Sustainable group, agreed. He said the draft was an “extremely flawed document, which has enough loopholes in it to drive a developer’s bulldozer through” and should not be rushed to passage when a new Trust Council might have a different view.
Clare Frater, the Trust’s director of Trust Area Services, told the crowd it was ultimately council’s decision, but said “an awful lot of political, public energy has gone into this project, and I think there’s a desire to honour all of that work, because there’s some uncertainty after the election about what the priorities of a new council might be.”
Frater outlined how work to revise the 33-year-old TPS — the guiding document to which all Trust Area bylaws must be aligned — had been underway since 2019, and that attempts made before then had not gotten off the ground. An estimated $335,000 has been spent on the process since 2019, she told the Driftwood later. Frater stressed that trustees are listening to all the feedback being provided “and there is a desire to really honour what’s being heard and to run a good process that actually results in an outcome.”
Salt Spring trustee and Trust Council chair Laura Patrick said she welcomes the range of input being provided.
“If you find language that you think needs to be specifically changed, please, please give us those examples. That’s what I want to hear.”
Some speakers criticized the lack of definitions in the draft TPS, including for critical terms like “environment” and “unique amenities.”
Lawyer Jack Woodward said the Trust should have had a unique amenities list made 50 years ago, since that term was put into the original legislation creating the Islands Trust.
“They should have been doing this. This is the hard work. This is the actual hard work of sitting down and saying, ‘what is it that’s unique and special about the islands?’ and putting that into words . . . We’re not talking about homogenizing things. We’re talking about identifying and preserving and protecting the uniqueness.”
“This has been a topic since day one,” said Frater, “so we welcome continued dialogue about the meaning of ‘amenities.’”
Speaker Mary Richardson pointed out that the current TPS iteration actually talks about amenities and the history and rationale for the Islands Trust in its first few pages, and suggested something similar be included in the 2026 version.
Regarding the “environment” definition, Patrick said Trust staff were seeking a published definition that will be included, but confirmed “trustees are thinking ‘natural environment.’” Patrick also said trustees had asked for a handbook to be created to accompany the document, and stressed that it was important to read the document as a whole.
Elizabeth White was one speaker who had read the document and also felt it lacked legally enforceable policies in areas such as affordable housing and environmental protection.
“The TPS draft, in its present form, in my view, is toothless and inadequate and unfit for purpose,” she said. “I’m sorry to have to say that. I do think it can be fixed. I don’t know whether its fixing would result in a document that would be approved by Trust Council.”
Bryan Young of Transition Salt Spring (TSS) said his group felt the draft was “a thoughtful balance between protecting what makes the islands unique while allowing trustees to respond to local needs in the context of the mandate,” and applauded its inclusion of Indigenous rights. TSS felt the document falls short in areas of forest and freshwater protection, and growth management.
He summarized the TSS position by saying “building the right housing in the right places is not in opposition to Indigenous rights, food security, forests, water and climate resilience. They are one and must be treated together.”
Some people asked why Salt Spring’s official community plan (OCP) update was being done at the same time, when the TPS is a guiding document for all Trust islands’ OCPs.
Patrick responded that the OCP project will not be completed before the end of the term this fall, so the next Local Trust Committee will be in charge of completing the process.
The draft TPS, more information and a survey are available through islandstrust.bc.ca/programs/islands-2050/ or local Trust offices. The survey deadline is Feb. 2.
The TPS will next be considered by Trust Council members at their March 10-12 meeting.