No trust in the Trust
The Islands Trust draft Trust Policy Statement has veered off course at a time when its 50-year mandate is more important than ever.
Over the past year, the Islands Trust (“the Trust”) invited public input to inform its long-overdue update of the Trust Policy Statement (TPS), a document that guides how land use decisions are made across the Trust Area in the Salish Sea. While the draft includes some much-needed revisions, it drifts from the Trust’s mandate of environmental protection and fails to offer meaningful approaches to guide the translation of words from the pages of policy into action on the globally unique landscapes of the Gulf Islands. To work properly, the TPS must lay the groundwork to (finally) support and operationalize the Trust’s environmental protection mandate–something the current version has continually failed to do in the over 30 years since its inception.
The Islands Trust is a unique governance body that represents the geographically distinct area it serves. When the Islands Trust was established fifty years ago, its role was clear: to prevent unrestrained growth and development in the Trust Area. The legislation recognized that the natural environment and rural character of the Gulf Islands were fragile and irreplaceable. The terms used in the legislation of the day, such as “environment” and “unique amenities”, were intended to identify the features – from upland forests to shorelines – that made these islands special.
Protecting the rarity and unique ecologies of the Trust Area’s landscapes and shorelines for generations to come required careful limits on development. Further, this protection also supported resilience in Trust Area communities and honoured the qualities that sustained and connected the region’s First Nations to their lands and waters. Those founding intentions matter today even more than they did in 1974, amid current pressures from growth that stretch the limits of finite island resources like freshwater and land.
Yet, the new draft TPS shifts focus away from these fundamental components of the Trust Object. The Trust is seemingly assuming responsibilities no different from any urban municipality, by downgrading its mandate of limiting growth to managing it. That ostensibly subtle change represents a significant departure from the Islands Trust’s founding purpose. To fulfill its mandate, the TPS – the core document guiding the Islands Trust into 2050 – must include clear policies that limit the rate and scale of development where necessary to protect the Trust Area’s natural systems and rural character.
Other notable deletions in the draft TPS reinforce these concerns. Earlier descriptions of the Islands Trust’s “special conservation-oriented responsibility” and warnings about “extreme pressure from population growth and tourism” have been removed. References encouraging communities to respect density limits and protect community character have also disappeared. These omissions weaken one of the clear directions the Islands Trust was founded on: to regulate growth.
In other parts of the document, the draft TPS introduces language that risks expanding the Trust’s role beyond what its original legislation intended. For example, references to “supporting community well-being” subtly reframe the Islands Trust’s mandate. While community well-being is important, the Islands Trust is not responsible for delivering social services or shaping economic policy. The Trust’s powers are tied directly to land use. As such, elements of community well-being that the Trust is responsible for are tied to land use decisions that directly impact residents’ susceptibility to climate-driven natural disasters and health risks. That is, preserving and protecting the Trust Area’s environment and natural amenities and the services they provide to resident communities. Maintaining a preservation and protection focus is essential, not only for ecological resilience but also for community resilience.
Housing is another issue where clarity is needed. The Islands Trust does not have the mandate to provide housing, but it does regulate land use where housing occurs. During his tenure as Provincial Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, Ravi Kahlon (now Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth), alerted the Trust Council that infrastructure capacity should not contradict the Object of the Trust. After decades of misguided development, the Trust Area now faces a severe shortage of affordable housing. Any increases in density should be carefully targeted toward verifiably affordable and workforce housing, supported by binding agreements and designed to protect the Trust Area’s limited land, water, and natural resources.
Environmental protection also requires stronger tools. While the draft TPS recognizes the importance of ecosystems, it offers few concrete measures to safeguard them. Simply acknowledging ecological values is insufficient to meet and mitigate the compounding pressures being hoisted upon delicate island ecosystems. Policy statements must require practical mechanisms, such as clearly defined Development Permit Areas, to ensure that ecosystems are protected in everyday planning decisions.
Climate change presents an equally urgent challenge. The Trust has declared a climate emergency, yet the draft TPS superficially addresses climate change. Rising sea levels, stronger storms, and increasing wildfire and flood risk are already affecting Trust Area communities. If the Trust Policy Statement is meant to guide the Islands Trust for the next twenty-five years, it must include stronger policies that reflect the scale and urgency of climate change.
On southeastern Vancouver Island and nearby Gulf Islands, conditions have always been dry compared to nearby areas due to the rain shadow effect of the inland mountains. Now, these areas are experiencing a worsening seasonal water deficit.
According to a climate projection report prepared for the Islands Trust in 2020, over the next 20 to 70 years, the region can expect warmer overall temperatures, more extreme heat days, less rain, longer droughts, and more intense storms. These projections also found that rainfall events will likely intensify in the fall and winter, meaning more rainfall in shorter amounts of time. Yet, a high proportion of that water will be lost to run-off, contributing little to building local freshwater supply, which should be central to all land use planning in the Trust Area.
At its core, the Trust’s purpose remains simple and powerful: the preservation and protection of the Islands Trust Area for present and future generations. The draft TPS itself acknowledges this vision explicitly in the opening statement, even speaking of the “silent voices” of ecosystems, species at risk, and future generations. Yet simultaneously, it then fails to adequately address and respond to the realities of the twin biodiversity and climate crises.
The Trust Policy Statement must do more than offer platitudes. It must provide clear, enforceable policies that translate vision into action. These unique islands deserve nothing less.
A version of this article was first published in Times Colonist on March 24, 2026.
