Islands Trust currently holding quarterly meeting on Salt Spring

Emily Carson-Apstein

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder

The Islands Trust is currently holding their Quarterly Meeting from June 17th to 19th on Salt Spring Island.
This is a chance for local trustees to connect with those representing the other 13 major islands in the Trust, and address any administrative issues within the larger organization. While each island in the Trust faces unique challenges, each island also has many issues in common such as ferry service, the housing crisis, bylaw enforcement, and protecting the environment while carving out a living.
The attending trustees will be bringing reports from their respective islands to share with the wider group. For Gabriola this includes information on the ongoing Gabriola Official Community Plan (OCP) review, the administrative statistics which were published in last week’s Sounder, and trustee Elliot’s report on the research into legalizing Tiny Homes on Wheels as one possible solution to addressing the gulf island housing crisis. There will also be reports from Islands Trust committees such as Finance and Occupational Health and Safety. More information about the 2024/2025 financial year and Islands Trust spending is available on their website and in meeting documents which are also available for the public online.
One piece of information from Gabriola is that the Gabriola OCP project is currently $40,000 (52%) under budget, “due primarily to delays advancing the freshwater footprint component of this project, as well as First Nations capacity funding work not complete in the year that will be continued in next fiscal [year]”. Gabriola is not the only island currently undertaking the creation of a new OCP, Denman and Gambier islands are also undertaking this process.
The Islands Trust is also completing wider strategic planning after its visioning process was completed in March. Other business includes the relationship between the Islands Trust and local indigenous communities (including the Saanich based W̱ SÁNEĆ Leadership Council who wish to create a Memorandum of Understanding around art, culture, place names, harvesting rights, environmental protections and more), and looking into any BC legislation that impacts the Islands Trust.
The next Islands Trust Council Quarterly Meeting is scheduled to be held in-person on Gabriola Island September 16-18, 2025. The public is welcome to attend most portions of the Quarterly Meetings.