The Islands Trust Council plans to table first reading of a new draft of its official Policy Statement before August, hoping to advance a rekindled amendment process 30 years in the making and conclude it before the next election.
An update to the Policy Statement — intended to revise the guiding document to address issues such as the climate crisis, growing housing needs and the Trust’s commitment to reconciliation with local First Nations — has long been on pause, most recently due to backlash in 2021 over a proposed draft many islanders felt had been rushed.
Under a revised timeframe approved during their three-day quarterly gathering held on Salt Spring Island June 17-19, Trust Council has set two electronic meetings it hopes will wrap up the current stage of proceedings: a Committee of the Whole meeting Wednesday, July 9, for trustees to receive legal advice following a review of the draft by Islands Trust’s legal counsel; and a special meeting of Trust Council Tuesday, July 29, to give a first reading to the draft that emerges.
The two electronic meetings are necessary, according to staff, to achieve this Trust Council’s stated goal of adopting a bylaw enshrining the new Policy Statement before the end of the political term — a tightening schedule arguably fraught with possibilities for further delay, particularly given the difficulty of finding summertime dates where enough staff and trustees are available to hold an official meeting.
The two days in July were selected after polling trustees, and are the best among limited choices, according to chief administrative officer Rueben Bronee, who noted in his report that since quorum is “barely achieved” on both days, it was critical that every trustee who indicated they would be available ensure they actually attend.
“And I want to reiterate that these next two meetings are simply preparing a document for public and First Nations comment,” said Trust Area Services director Clare Frater. “This is the beginning of the next chapter; it is in no way concluding the project. It’s simply your agreement that the document is sufficiently developed to invite comment on it.”
Trustees and staff have been grappling with reworking language in the document over several months, effectively translating dozens of individual resolutions and First Nations input into changes meant to improve structure and readability, even while addressing evolving Trust Area concerns — an exhaustive process spanning multiple council and committee meetings.
All that work preceded what may be an even thornier “general public” phase of the process; official public engagement on the Policy Statement is in a holding pattern of sorts until Trust Council gives first reading to the draft changes — at which point a communications and engagement plan will ramp up, beginning what is expected to be at least a six-month period of referrals to Indigenous governing bodies, regional districts, the Islands Trust Conservancy Board and Local Trust Committees, alongside a Trust-wide survey and what will doubtless be town halls held on every island.
“And then you can have an opportunity to revise it again at second reading, and revise it again at third reading,” said Frater, “before you consider adoption later in the term.”
The timeline trustees approved last week anticipates those later readings taking place in early spring, with the possibility of referring a proposed bylaw to the province — alongside a final First Nations engagement report — in April 2026. That would increase the likelihood of adopting the new Policy Statement officially by late fall, according to a staff report.
But even during the part of the process trustees have characterized as merely a “listening mode,” members of the public — and various advocacy groups — haven’t been shy about weighing in early. This month’s Trust Council meeting was no exception, as islanders lined up during the public comment period to commend — or excoriate — trustees’ priorities.
Several took the Islands Trust to task for what they felt was insufficient response to the shortage of affordable housing for workers — with many blaming trustees less than the structure of the body itself, particularly for its relevance to Salt Spring Island and its larger population.
One delegation, from the Friends of the Gulf Islands, presented a nearly 1,000-signature petition which among other things urged trustees — and Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister Ravi Kahlon — to not approve the new Policy Statement “until it affirms that the term ‘environment’ in the legislated object of the Islands Trust Act refers specifically to the natural environment, not residential development or infrastructure.”
And Saanich North and the Islands MLA Rob Botterell — who himself served as a trustee in the 1980s — took part of his time addressing Trust Council June 18 to weigh in, offering advice he said was built from his recent experience in provincial government
“You may want to get on with stuff, but my experience in getting to ‘yes’ on extremely complex items, where there’s strong differences of opinion, is to treat everybody — as I’m sure you will — equitably, build that consent and build that consensus,” said Botterell. “The world won’t end if you take a lot more time than you can imagine, both with First Nations and residents of the Trust, in terms of consulting on the new Policy Statement.”
Links to agendas and viewing opportunities for the July 9 and 29 online meetings should soon be available at islandstrust.bc.ca.
Council to bring
First Nations into process
earlier on future updates
Whatever changes may be ahead for the Islands Trust Policy Statement, a small amendment to that body’s strategic plan should have an outsized effect on cooperation with First Nations on future ones — and signal to subsequently elected trustees that the guiding policy document may be less immutable than its long tenure suggests.
It has been three decades since the last meaningful update to the Policy Statement was done, and as Trust Council met Tuesday, June 17 at what may be among the last Trust-wide gatherings of representatives before a first reading of the new document, it voted to approve a Trust Programs Committee recommendation to add a “key initiative” to the strategic plan — specifically laying out an intent to work with Indigenous governing bodies to “co-design and implement future Policy Statement amendment review processes that ensure ongoing and more regular review and amendment” of the document.
“I think we’re all aware this is meant to be a living document that’s amended regularly,” said Trust Area Services director Clare Frater, “not at 30-year intervals.”
The change is a response to specific feedback from Quw’utsun Nation members — particularly Lyackson First Nation — that the Trust’s unilateral project management decisions have resulted in timelines insufficient for proper consideration and input from Indigenous governing bodies, according to a staff report.
The new plan aims to bring First Nations into the amendment process itself, rather than simply seeking comment once amendments are proposed. Frater said it also further underlines that every new Trust Council should be considering whether the Policy Statement needs changes.
“This will certainly assist staff as we go back out and have those conversations to help everyone, including the public, understand that while you might be adopting this document — hopefully in this term — there’s every opportunity in the future to keep amending it,” said Frater, “hopefully more incrementally than what we’re doing now.”