This page includes answers to frequently asked questions about the Islands Trust Policy Statement Amendment Project and its process. If you have a question that has not been answered here, please Email us.
Islands Trust Policy Statement
What is the Islands Trust Policy Statement?
The Islands Trust Policy Statement contains the vision, principles and policies that guide how Islands Trust Council interprets and implements its provincial mandate to preserve and protect the unique amenities and environment of the Islands Trust Area. It guides the development of the official community plans and land use bylaws of local trust committees and Bowen Island Municipality, and the development of Trust Council’s Strategic Plan. It is the heart of the preserve and protect mandate for this special part of British Columbia.
Why does Islands Trust have a Policy Statement?
The provincial Islands Trust Act requires Islands Trust Council to adopt a Policy Statement with the policies it will use to preserve and protect the Islands Trust Area.
How does the Islands Trust Policy Statement affect my property?
The Islands Trust Policy Statement is not a set of regulations. It does not change how land in the Islands Trust Area may be used under existing regulations today. The Policy Statement contains policies that local trust committees and island municipalities will use to guide decisions about future policy and regulatory change at the local level, and that Island Trust Council will use to guide decisions at a regional level.
The Policy Statement may affect how land in the Islands Trust Area can be used in the future if the local trust committee or island municipality decides to introduce new regulations to bring local bylaws into alignment with the goals of the Policy Statement.
How does the Islands Trust Policy Statement impact local decision-making and regional growth?
The Policy Statement guides the development of official community plans and land use bylaws of local trust committees and Bowen Island Municipality. Under Section 15 of the Islands Trust Act, official community plans and land use bylaws of local trust committees and island municipalities in the Islands Trust Area must not be contrary to or at variance with the Policy Statement. Amendments to official community plans and land use bylaws are evaluated for consistency with the Policy Statement by Islands Trust Executive Committee. The Policy Statement provides the overarching vision, principles, and policies framework for land and marine use within the Islands Trust Area.
Why is the Policy Statement being updated?
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.
What role does the Policy Statement play in strategic planning?
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.
What is Islands 2050?
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.
Where can I learn more and provide input?
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.
Updated Draft Policy Statement Content
What has been happening with the draft new Policy Statement?
In May 2024, Islands Trust Committee of the Whole received a new draft of the Policy Statement. This updated draft reflected all the changes requested by Trust Council in its 32 resolutions of June and September 2022. Since then, Committee of the Whole and Trust Programs Committee have met more than a dozen times to fine-tune the document’s principles and policies to ensure they reflect Islands Trust Council’s perspective on the future of the Islands Trust Area and the Object of Islands Trust.
What are guiding principles in the updated draft Policy Statement?
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.
What are directive policies in the updated Policy Statement, and how are they organized?
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.
What is the difference between a directive and an advisory policy?
Directive policies are policies that local trust committees and island municipalities must address when adopting or amending local regulatory bylaws and official community plans.
Advisory policies are policies about issues or topics that are important to Trust Council, but may not be within Islands Trust exclusive jurisdiction or that require some additional level of cooperation or engagement with external agencies or Indigenous Governing Bodies. Trust Council hopes that local trust committees and island municipalities will try to move these issues forward when opportunities arise, either through their own policies and regulations, or in an advocacy role, but is not requiring them to do so.
How will local trust committees and island municipalities “restrict” development in areas where the Policy Statement requires them to?
The updated Policy Statement contains the following definition of “restrict”: To confine, bound or limit, not necessarily prohibit. So, where the Policy Statement requires local trust committees and island municipalities to “restrict” development, Islands Trust Council will expect local trust committees and island municipalities to demonstrate how they have done so. This could range from maintaining permitted development potential in an area at its current levels rather than increasing it, introducing a new development permit area to address the issue of concern, or reducing the zoned development potential in that area to help mitigate the concern.
How will local trust committees and island municipalities “identify and prioritize the preservation, protection and restoration” of the ecosystems identified in the Policy Statement?
To identify the ecosystems that need to be preserved, protected and restored, local trust committees and island municipalities will start by reviewing extensive collection of ecosystem mapping data already in the Islands Trust inventory. If Islands Trust data is outdated or insufficient, local trust committees and island municipalities can explore what information might be available from local conservation groups. Furthermore, Islands Trust Council may, through its Policy Statement Implementation Plan, fund the procurement of new ecosystem data at a Trust-wide level. Alternatively, LTCs and island municipalities may fund the collection of fresh ecosystem data as part of an ecosystem protection project.
To prioritize the preservation, protection and restoration of these ecosystems, Trust Council expects that local trust committees and island municipalities will not make planning decisions that risk their degradation. LTCs and island municipalities should put ecosystem protection before all other considerations in their decision making. Examples of how a local trust committee or island municipality might preserve, protect, and restore these ecosystems include maintaining permitted development potential in an area at its current levels, introducing new development permit areas to protect the ecosystem in question, or reducing the permitted development potential in an area to reduce the risk to the subject ecosystem.
What is the current plan with respect to Islands Trust regulation of docks?
The updated draft proposes that local trust committees and island municipalities will limit or prohibit new private docks in areas identified to be:
- culturally significant;
- critical habitat for species at risk, and;
- recreationally significant;
and that local trust committees and island municipalities will consider the cumulative effects of docks (see draft policy 3.5.21).
Next Steps
What are the next steps for the new Policy Statement?
Islands Trust Committee of the Whole will receive the draft new Policy Statement at a special meeting in early July 2025. At that meeting, Committee of the Whole will decide whether to endorse the document and send it on to Islands Trust Council for first reading in late July.
Once Trust Council gives first reading to the draft new Policy Statement, the bylaw will be referred to Indigenous Governing Bodies, local trust committees, Bowen Island Municipality, regional districts, provincial ministries and agencies, school boards, improvement districts, and the Islands Trust Conservancy Board for their review and comment. It will also kick off a six-month public engagement period. At the end of that six-month period, Trust Council will consider all the feedback received from Indigenous Governing Bodies, agencies, and the general public and whether or not further revisions should be made to the draft new Policy Statement and whether/when to proceed to second reading of the bylaw.
When will the community have the opportunity to provide input?
If Trust Council gives first reading to the draft new Policy Statement this summer, public engagement on the draft new Policy Statement will kick off in Fall 2025. Trust Council will seek the public’s views through an online/print public survey and an online workshop. Local trust committees have also asked for on-island community engagement opportunities in a form that best meets their communities’ needs.
You can also e-mail your comments to islands2050@islandstrust.bc.ca, or contact your local trustees directly, using the contact information available here.
Will Trust Council, its committees and Executive Committee discuss the draft Policy Statement in public meetings?
Yes. All discussions about the updated draft Policy Statement will be in open public meetings, unless there is a need for legal advice.
What happens after public engagement? What are the final steps?
Once Trust Council considers feedback received and makes additional changes it can give the Policy Statement bylaw second and third readings.
Trust Council will then refer the draft new Policy Statement to the Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs for approval, and will adopt the new Policy Statement after the Minister has approved it.
Amendment Process
How is the Policy Statement updated, and what factors are considered in the process?
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.
What are bylaw readings? What does it mean for the approval process?
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 amended or repealed 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 Nation Governing Bodies. The bylaw must be approved by provincial Minister of Municipal Affairs before Trust Council votes to adopt it.
Has Trust Council given an Islands Trust Policy Statement bylaw any readings?
No.
Islands Trust Council has adopted a project timeline that does not contemplate a Policy Statement Bylaw being contemplated for first reading before Summer 2025.
How are current official community plan amendment projects affected by the project to update the Policy Statement?
They are not. An updated Policy Statement will only be in effect after it has received approval from the Minister of Municipal Affairs and has been adopted by Trust Council. This is not expected to occur until the end of 2026, at the earliest. The new Policy Statement will only apply to local trust committee and Bowen Island Municipality bylaws created after its adoption.
Islands 2050 Process History (2019 - present)
What are the Trust Council’s three key amendment priorities?
At the outset of the Islands 2050 process, Trust Council set three key priorities for updates to the Policy Statement: Reconciliation, climate change, and affordable housing. These priorities align with Trust Council’s Reconciliation Declaration (2019), Climate Emergency Declaration (2019), and Housing Equity and Workforce Shortage Crisis Declaration (2021).
What key themes emerged from public engagement to date?
Feedback from three public engagement processes in 2019, 2021 and 2022 was plentiful and complex. Key themes included:
- Support for the Islands Trust mandate
- Support for updating the Policy Statement
- A desire for balance between environmental protection and sustaining residents’ valued communities and way of life
- Concerns about Islands Trust overreaching its jurisdiction
- A desire for clarified language and a glossary of terms
The new draft is responsive to the input received. The results of three previous Islands Trust Area-wide public engagement processes are available on the Islands 2050 webpage.
What key themes emerged from earlier engagement with First Nations Governing Bodies to date?
Key themes from earlier engagement with First Nations Governing Bodies 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 previous engagement processes with First Nations Governing Bodies are available on the Islands 2050 webpage.
What has Islands Trust Council done to date with all the input it has received?
Based on the feedback from First Nations Governing Bodies, community members, and agencies, has also helped inform subsequent revisions recommended by Committee of the Whole and Trust Programs Committee arising from their review of the document in 2024 and 2025.
What is capacity funding and what is it used for?
Capacity funding is offered by Islands Trust to Indigenous Governing Bodies to support their capacity for meaningful engagement on the Islands Trust Policy Statement.
How much has the Islands 2050 process cost to date?
Islands Trust has spent more than $300,000 since the project’s inception in 2019 on public engagement, engaging with First Nations Governing Bodies, and other project related expenses, in addition to considerable staff hours.
Next Steps
Please see the Islands 2050 https://islandstrust.bc.ca/programs/islands-2050/ website for detailed project information and subscribe for project updates to stay informed as the process continues. Questions can be sent to islands2050@islandstrust.bc.ca.