The Policy Statement guides the development of official community plans and land use bylaws of local trust committees and Bowen Island Municipality.  The Policy Statement provides the overarching vision, principles, and policies framework for land and marine use within the Islands Trust Area.

A lot has changed since the current Policy Statement was adopted 30 years ago.  The Policy Statement is being updated to reflect important topics such as Reconciliation, climate change, and affordable housing.

The Policy Statement informs Trust Council’s development of its Strategic Plan and cooperation with First Nations, other partners and agencies. It also serves as a reference for external agencies that are assessing the compatibility of their strategic plans and policies with the Islands Trust mandate.

Islands 2050 is the name of the overall process to amend the Islands Trust Policy Statement. The Islands 2050 process includes public engagement, early engagement with First Nations, and referrals to First Nations and provincial and other agencies. The Islands 2050 webpage is where all the Islands Trust Policy Statement amendment project information is available to the public.

Please see the Islands 2050 https://islandstrust.bc.ca/programs/islands-2050/ website for more information and how you can provide input.

Subscribe for project updates to stay informed as the process continues. Questions can be sent to islands2050@islandstrust.bc.ca.

The process to update the Policy Statement is guided by Trust Council’s Policy Statement Amendment Policy.  The policy sets out that Trust Council will first identify the changes it wants to make, then engage the public and First Nations on the topics it wishes to address, and then make changes to the document based on:

• Input and feedback from the public, First Nations and referral agencies and
• Its understanding of the Islands Trust object in the Islands Trust Act.

The Policy Statement is a bylaw of Trust Council and follows a typical bylaw development process, which is conducted in open public meetings.

An Islands Trust Policy Statement bylaw must receive three readings before it can proceed to final adoption. This process allows Trust Council multiple opportunities to provide input into the bylaw and make necessary changes before it is adopted. Each reading and adoption is decided by a majority vote of the Trustees present and each reading is passed by a resolution.

All bylaws must be read and adopted in a meeting that is open to the public. Trust Council can make changes to the Policy Statement bylaw at any point during first, second or third reading. Once Trust Council has adopted the Policy Statement bylaw it may only be amend or repeal it through a new bylaw. The various bylaw readings are generally taken to mean:

• First reading = tabling or introduction
• Second = discussion in principle and on the content of the bylaw
• Third reading = final discussion, including any changes made along the way.

Between first and second readings of any proposed Policy Statement bylaw, Trust Council must refer the proposed Policy Statement bylaw to the board of each regional district, all or part of which is in the Islands Trust Area, for review and comment by the board, and to First Nations. The bylaw must be approved by provincial Minister of Municipal Affairs before Trust Council votes to adopt it.

Key themes from earlier engagement with First Nations included concerns about governance, rights and responsibilities, and the need for ecosystem protection for cultural/spiritual/economic uses. The new draft is responsive to the input received. The results of two previous engagement processes with First Nations are available on the Islands 2050 webpage.

Based on the feedback from First Nations, referral agencies, and the public, in September 2022, Trust Council made 32 resolutions to guide staff in the drafting of a new draft Policy Statement.

In line with Trust Council direction provided in fall 2023, staff at Bowen Island Municipality, Ministry of Agriculture & Food, Agricultural Land Commission and Islands Trust Conservancy were engaged with to refine language in a new draft and the new draft was shared with those First Nation governments who accepted capacity funding. First Nations, and the staff people from other organizations, are aware that Trust Council may make further revisions to the document.  First Nations will have continuous opportunity to comment.

Trust Council will now review an updated draft Policy Statement document to determine if it is ready for further public comment. Once Trust Council provides approval in in principle to an updated draft document, it will be referred to local trust committees and Bowen Island Municipality for comment. To inform their comments to Trust Council, these bodies may choose to undertake public engagement in the manner best suited to their communities. The Islands Trust will also will also provide an online/print survey and virtual community workshop to seek public comment.

After receiving community comments, Trust Council will consider making changes to the draft Policy Statement document and providing a draft First Reading. If granted first reading, the document will be referred to comment to First Nation governments, the Islands Trust Conservancy Board, regional districts, and other agencies as determined by Trust Council.

In this instance, funding was offered by Islands Trust to First Nations governments to support their capacity for meaningful engagement on the Islands Trust Policy Statement.

Islands Trust has spent $280,000 since the project’s inception in 2019 on public engagement, First Nations engagement, and other project related expenses, in addition to considerable staff hours.

In response to Trust Council’s request for changes in June and September 2022, the document has been reformatted to simplify the structure, shorten the length, improve readability and understanding, and other changes. The new draft provides includes guiding principle policies as well as directive policies which are organized under five goal areas.

The updated draft Policy Statement includes guiding principles that set out shared principles and priorities that are intended to guide daily planning and decision making by Islands Trust bodies.

Directive policies are policies that local trust committees and island municipalities must address when adopting or amending local regulatory bylaws and official community plans. They are policies that are deemed integral to carrying out the Islands Trust Object, but which are general enough that they can be appropriately adapted to local circumstances.

Public engagement is expected to occur through locally-determined processes in fall/winter of 2024 and into 2025. Once Trust Council has endorsed a draft document via approval in principle, the public will be invited and encouraged to provide input.  Trust Council is taking this approach to avoid wasting public effort on topics or policies that don’t have the support of Trust Council.

Trust Council will seek the public’s views through an online/print public survey and a virtual community workshop. Local trust committees and Bowen Island Municipality will determine what form of public engagement to undertake locally to inform their referral responses. More information will be provided when Trust Council approves the draft in principle. The public will be able to monitor changes to the draft through public agenda packages and minutes.

Yes. All discussions about the updated draft Policy Statement will be in open public meetings, unless there is a need for legal advice.

In December 2023, Trust Council adopted the following vision statement “While on a journey of Reconciliation, Islands Trust Council envisions a vibrant tapestry of caring, diverse and rural communities within the Salish Sea that flourish in harmony with nature”, and asked staff to provide the vision statement to First Nations directly working Islands Trust on the Policy Statement.

In addition, Trust Council has provided a statement with regards to the Object of the Trust:

“Trust Council’s determination is that every decision must include a reasoned recognition of all the elements specified in the mandate. While one element may gain priority, reasons for that decision must be clear and have considered the other elements. There has been some debate in the past about the meaning of unique amenities. Trust Council’s view is that unique amenities are broad-ranging and may include issues such as, but not limited to, housing, livelihoods, infrastructure and tourism. However, land use planning in the Trust Area must always include a focus on preserving and protecting the environment and communities of both local trust areas and the Trust Area generally and in a manner consistent with Reconciliation.

In any given decision-making situation, there must be recognition of the importance of each of the essential elements and where there is competition between those elements there must be a careful and reasoned balancing of the importance of preserving and protecting the Trust Area, and its unique amenities and environment.”

It is up to Trust Council to decide on how best to address its vision statement and its interpretation of the Object of the Trust as it considers changes to the updated Policy Statement draft.

Once Trust Council has received local trust committee/Bowen Island Municipality and public feedback on the draft it will make any desired changes and then consider first reading of the bylaw. If first reading occurs, the revised draft will be formally referred to First Nations, regional districts, provincial ministries and agencies, school boards, improvement districts, and the Islands Trust Conservancy Board. Trust Council will then consider feedback received and will make additional changes as needed.

Next comes second and third readings of the bylaw. If the additional readings of the bylaw are passed – with or without changes – Trust Council will then refer the new draft Policy Statement to the Minister for approval, and will adopt a new Policy Statement after the Minister has approved.

The Islands Trust has learned from previous engagement on the Policy Statement there is a strong desire from community members to have time to fully review material and provide feedback for consideration, but that it is beneficial to first have Trust Council agreement that a draft is generally supported by Trust Council and is ready for public comment. In response, Trust Council has set out a more measured deliberative decision process that will see Trust Council discussing the document for as much time as is needed through Committee of the Whole meetings before providing recommendations to Trust Council and seeking public comment.  Trust Council has made early and ongoing engagement with First Nations a priority, and has committed to supporting the use of locally-tailored on-island public engagement, as well as Island Trust Area wide engagement, to provide the public with opportunity to provide input prior to considering first reading of a Policy Statement bylaw.