DEAR EDITOR:
Back in the early 1990s, two simultaneous revisions of Official Community Plan were occurring. On Jan. 11, 1991, 126 Bowen islanders gathered at Bowen Island Community School to begin the process of updating our Bowen OCP.
Concurrently, with much less fanfare, Trust Council was beginning revision of the overarching Islands Trust Policy document (finished in 1994, still in use).
“Less fanfare” until people saw that the intent of the Island Trust policy statement was to defang individual islands’ OCPs. In the 90s Trust Policy document bylaws, “should” would frequently have been replaced with “must.” That meant the work of the 126 Bowen Islanders creating our local OCP bylaws, was to be subservient to the a Trust-wide policy document. It stirred a backlash in the ’90s, as it has today. Because of the ’90s backlash, “should” found its way back into many ’94 Trust policy sections. Local community input, local OCPs, won that round.
Saturna Trustee Paul Brent writes in the Driftwood, the issue of “should, shall, must” phrasings is back.
He writes, “The significant changes to the (current) policy statement being proposed by Trust staff will make major changes to our OCPs, particularly as the existing draft policy statement moves to directing that which must be, rather than that which should be. And that is but one of many elements the draft policy statement is changing.
“Saturna’s [and Bowen’s] OCPs were arduously crafted through huge community efforts over years. The current OCP will change if the Trust has its way, and in a process that negates the early and meaningful consultation we all have come to expect for even the most minimal of bylaw changes.”
Your “should” might be my “must.” Fair debate. The bigger issue of defanging local OCPs in order to have every island under the same bylaws is the biggest best debate.
Respectfully,
Brian Hodgins
Member of ’91 OCP steering committee
