July Trustee Note from Isle and Times

for those who don't subscribe to Our Isle and Times, here is the Trustee Note that I submitted for the July issue.

You can subscribe to this wonderful monthly Lasqueti newsletter by receiving mail on Lasqueti, or get an off-island one-year subscription by sending some money to Terry Theiss, Lasqueti Island, BC  V0R 2J0. Send $10 for an electronic subscription (PDF by email) or for mailed paper copies, $20 to Canadian addresses, $25 to US addresses, or $30 for overseas addresses. Makes cheques payable to Terry, please.

Short submissions should be mailed to Terry or phoned to her at 250-333-8501. Articles over 50 words in length must be submitte electronically to isleandtimes [at] lasqueti [dot] ca

Here's my Note:

June Trust Council report

The ferry trip to Mayne Island, from Salt Spring via Pender, is beautiful. The only thing that's not idyllic is the abundance of docks or ramps and floats fronting almost every waterfront property. I don't know if the water zoning that we did here on Lasqueti many years ago helped, or maybe it was the huge exposure that would take most of them out in a storm if they had been built on our shores. It's a real pleasure to have such a relatively unspoiled and natural shoreline here, and roadway too.

Trust Council had a session with San Juan County councilors. They are the equivalent local government in the San Juan Islands. It's really worthwhile to be able to exchange ideas and experiences, and to work together on our common situations. One thing they said that especially resonated with me was that the value of agriculture on their islands is far greater than the actual value of the sales of agricultural produce. Agriculture gives a rural atmosphere to their islands, and fosters a different attitude and lifestyle that attracts visitors and pleases residents.

We also had a session with a Vancouver Island group doing carbon offsets, using the payments the Trust (and other local governments, and others) have been told to make to offset our carbon footprint (mostly travel, heating and paper) to foster and promote local projects that have high value for local communities.

On the darker side, we had a presentation from Kinder-Morgan, who want to triple the amount of Alberta Tar Sands oil (really diluted bitumen) that they bring to Burnaby and ship out through the Port of Vancouver, to US and Asian customers. They were very frank about the overwhelming necessity (in the face of catastrophic climate change) for the expansion - money! The international price for oil is nearly $30 a barrel higher than the North American price. Their proposal would increase the number of tankers carrying the "dilbit" from the current 60 per year (5 a month) to 350 a year, nearly one each day. The session also reminded me that corporations, and the people who work for them, will mislead people if it will help them get approvals for what they want to do, especially making more money.

Trust Council unanimously supported the motion to oppose shipping US coal from Surrey Fraser Docks by barge to Texada Island for storage and later loading onto ships to take it to Asia, where it would be burned to make electricity.

September Trust Council - on Lasqueti

When Trust Council meets on one of the Trust islands (as it does for most of its quarterly meetings) there is 25 minutes allocated at the beginning of the meeting for local groups to make presentations to Trust Council about what they have been doing in the community. Usually these are groups that do work related to the Trust objective: To preserve and protect … but this isn't cast in stone.

Lasqueti groups can consider whether they'd like to make a brief presentation on their work to Trust Council. If many of them do, the time for each will be short. It usually works well to have one or two groups present, but we can be flexible, as long as we don't exceed the allocated 25 minutes.

I'd also like to assemble and present to Trust Council a list of all the groups that contribute to Lasqueti, both formally constituted societies and informal groups operating in the community. I'll put together a list and publish it, so that everyone can add to or correct my list.

I'd also like to display photographs of each of the Lasqueti people who have served as Lasqueti trustees. Unfortunately, the Trust doesn't have photos of most trustees, so I'm asking for photographs of ex-trustees, preferably from somewhere near the time they served as trustees. I'd like to borrow the photos and get them reproduced for display at the hall, and possibly on the Lasqueti website, mostly to remember and honour each of them. They were:

1977 - 1978 Kevin Monahan, Mike Humphries

1978 - 1980 Laurence Fisher, Mike Humphries

1980 - 1982 Laurence Fisher, Mike Humphries

1982 - 1984 Jack Barrett, Mike Humphries

1984 – 1986 Jack Barrett, Mike Humphries

1986 - 1988 Melinda Auerbach, Barry Kurland

1988 - 1990 Melinda Auerbach, Barry Kurland

1990 - 1993 Janice McMillan, Barry Kurland/Chris Ferris

1993 - 1996 Melinda Auerbach, Chris Ferris

1996 - 1999 Melinda Auerbach, Eric O'Higgins

1999 - 2002 Eric O'Higgins, Tom Weinerth

2002 - 2005 Bronwyn Preece, Rose Willow

2005 - 2008 Bronwyn Preece, Rose Willow

2008 - 2011 Susan Morrison, Jen Gobby

2011 - 2014 Susan Morrison, Peter Johnston

There will also be an hour “Delegations and Town Hall” session. Delegations are formal presentations to Trust Council, booked and arranged ahead of time. Town Hall is an opportunity for anyone present to ask or say whatever is on their mind. Information about how to present a petition, become a delegation, participate in the Town Hall, or correspond with Trust Council is available at:

http://www.islandstrust.bc.ca/trust-council/council-meetings/talk-to-council.aspx

Lasqueti Trust Committee

Our next Lasqueti Trust Committee meeting will be at the Arts Centre on Thursday, July 11, starting at 11am. Everyone is welcome to attend. The agenda package will be posted on island and on the Trust website a week or so before the meeting. There is time near the beginning and end of each meeting - the Town Hall session - for anyone to talk about their concerns or desires, or to ask questions. Our usual chair, David Graham, has a conflicting booking, so the meeting will be chaired by our past chair, Peter Luckham.

Just before the beginning of the readings night at the Arts Festival, I presented the 2013 Lasqueti Trust Committee Stewardship Award to Jenny Vester. Congratulations and thank you to her, and to everyone who contributes to our community (which I think is everyone in our community, plus some visitors and others).

Official Community Plan

When reading the OCP recently, I thought that this excerpt expressed nicely what we wanted when the plan was adopted - which was in 2005!

"Goals