Dear Editor:
The following is a letter shared with the Islands Trust Executive Committee and Trustees.
How dare you? Add my voice to the chorus protesting the overreach of authority Imbedded in the New Islands Trust Policy (NITP), which your Executive Committee proposes to rush to first reading without adequate consultation with the affected communities and residents.
Shame on you! The stealth and speed surrounding this action by your executive signifies a blatant power play. The proposed expansion of the Islands Trust mandate by your executive is a crass and cynical move to jump on the bandwagon of today’s major headline issues. It reveals a total disregard for the rights of your constituents – individual island residents, families, local businesses and communities.
Climate change, First Nations reconciliation, diversity, affordable housing, etc. are being addressed by numerous federal and provincial agencies, as well as by our own municipal government here on Bowen Island. We do not need the Islands Trust to “focus its lens” on these matters, nor will we tolerate the inevitable increase this would involve in your already excessive annual assessments.
Equally egregious are the prohibitive powers the Islands Trust would impose on quality of life choices for island residents, such as restrictions on desalinization facilities, floats, docks, agriculture and commercial ventures on private property. You seem to have lost sight that people live on these islands and have the right to create homes, work and raise their families with a reasonable degree of freedom.
The Islands Trust has ample, even excessive, power under its original mandate. Stick to it! This draft cannot proceed to first reading without first completing and documenting comprehensive public consultation and public input, including impact assessments of your expanded oversight on the lives and lifestyles of the residents you are supposed to be benefiting. Despite your various claims and published timelines, you have not undertaken adequate public consultation.
If the Islands Trust dares ram this policy through, you will clearly face challenges in court. Further, as you are well aware, significant skepticism already abounds here on Bowen Island about the value of the Islands Trust to our community. Be assured that should you approve this document for first reading, that skepticism will explode, laying the groundwork for our final exodus.
Do the right thing: cancel the first reading on your agenda. Then refocus your “lens” where it belongs – preserving and protecting the Islands Trust area and its unique amenities and environment for the benefit of the residents and of British Columbia generally.
Gayle Stevenson
