Welcome to our local trustee corner, where you can learn more about the trustees working for you! Here you can access trustee newsletters and other information and resources that local trustees want to share.
Meet Your Trustees
About LTC Chair
Laura Patrick is serving a second term as a Salt Spring Island Local Trustee, and became Islands Trust Council Chair in March, 2025. She moved to the island full-time in 2006 after having lived on Salt Spring part time since 1995. Laura has a background in environmental management, and international consulting. Laura believes the Islands Trust has important work to do to ensure a healthy, vibrant community that is in harmony with the natural environment, both for today and for tomorrow.
About Kate-Louise Stamford
Kate-Louise Stamford is honoured to be living and working on Cha7elKnech/Gambier Island with her husband and daughter. Kate began her association with Islands Trust as a Advisory Planning Commission member for the Gambier/Keats Local Trust Committee in 2004. After a stint as a minute-taker, she was elected as a Trustee in 2011 and is now in her fourth term with Islands Trust. Kate continues to focus on effective communication among the many isolated island communities in Howe Sound and Sunshine Coast and advancing regional relations in cooperation with the Howe Sound Biosphere Initiative and the Skwxwú7mesh Uxwumixw.
About Joe Bernardo
Joe Bernardo is serving his first term as a trustee for the Gambier Local Trust Area. Growing up in Terrace B.C., he worked a variety of smelter, construction, and railway jobs before attending university and, eventually, becoming a lawyer with expertise in regulatory and criminal enforcement litigation. Joe enjoys outdoor activities of all kinds, and is privileged to have been welcomed into a Keats Island pioneer family with deep roots in Plumper Cove. He is an advocate for balanced and practical land use regulations that promote environmental values through approaches that respect the needs of island residents.
Trustee Communications
Trustees will post news and information when applicable.
- 2018-12-01 - Stamford Trustee Report.pdf
- 2019-01-15 - Letter from Member of Parliament Pamela Goldsmith-Jones regarding the New Brighton Dock on Gambier Island.pdf
- 2019-02-01 - Stamford Trustee Report.pdf
- 2019-04-01 - Stamford Trustee Report.pdf
- 2019-05-01 - Stamford Trustee Report.pdf
- 2019-06-01 - Rogers Trustee Report.pdf
- 2019-09-01 - Stamford Trustee Report.pdf
- 2020-01-01 - Stamford Trustee Report.pdf
- 2020-05-01 - Stamford Trustee Report.pdf
- 2021-04-29 - Stamford Trustee Report.pdf
- 2021-05-27 - Stamford Trustee Report.pdf
- 2022-03-21 - Stamford Trustee Report.pdf
- 2022-04-13 - Stamford Trustee Report and New Brighton Dock Update.pdf
Other Trustee News & Resources
Howe Sound Community Forum Principles for Cooperation
In May 2022 changes were made to the wording of the Howe Sound Community Forum Principles for Cooperation. A letter from Gambier LTC Chair, Sue Ellen Fast, to Ruth Simons, President of the Howe Sound Biosphere Regional Initiative Society in support of these changes is available here.
New Brighton Dock advocacy
In September 2020 Islands Trust Council requested the Islands Trust Chair to write to all relevant federal and provincial ministries to ensure the New Brighton Dock remains a public access point; while at the same time being a fair and reasonable option for the owners of the dock, the Skwxwú7mesh Uxwumixw Council, to consider in their deliberations.
The Chair’s October 2020 letter to the provincial and federal transportation ministers and the provincial Assistant Deputy Minister’s response are posted on the Advocacy Letters page in the transportation section.