Trust Policy Statement review and revision process

The Islands Trust is preparing to update its Policy Statement, in a two-part process, and wants to involve residents and others concerned about and interested in the Trust Islands area.

The Policy Statement as it now exists (33 pages, adopted in 1996 and amended in 1998 and 2002) can be found at

http://www.islandstrust.bc.ca/media/342743/orgpolstatement.pdf

The Policy Statement is an elaboration of the Trust’s Object:

The object of the Trust is to preserve and protect the Trust Area and its unique amenities and environment for the benefit of the residents of the Trust Area and of British Columbia generally, in cooperation with municipalities, regional districts, improvement districts, other persons and organizations and the government of British Columbia.

The detailed project description can be found as a Staff Report fo Lasqueti (p26-29) and an Engagement Plan for the entire project (p30-67) in the Lasqueti Trust Committee’s agenda package from our May 27 meeting (pages 26 through 67) which is at    http://www.islandstrust.bc.ca/media/347654/la_2019-05-27_ltc_agd_pkg.pdf

Here are the engagement opportunities proposed for Lasqueti Island:

We would hold a community drop-in and world café event during the engagement period of August to October 2019. During the community drop-in portion of the event, information boards with the following content will be posted:

 The history of First Nations in the Salish Sea region, with specific reference to the Lasqueti Island LTA;

 Reconciliation and rights and title;

 A very brief history and purpose of the Islands Trust and our areas of responsibility;

 An overview of how the Policy Statement impacts decision-making in the Islands Trust Area;

 A snapshot of environmental health and demographics of the Lasqueti Island LTA, how things might change in the future if trends continue as they are;

 A snapshot of the environmental and social health of the Salish Sea region as a whole;

 Identify some of the issues that unite island communities; how things might change in the future if trends continue as they are.

The world café is a technique that brings people together in simultaneous rounds of conversation about questions that matter. We will provide members of the public an opportunity to foster meaningful discussion on questions pertaining to the topics from the information boards and others identified. This method provides the opportunity for members of the public to collaborate with others and empower one another

We will hold an information booth, featuring local and regional information boards and access to the online survey during one of the existing community events, markets, and/or other community driven events in July or August. We hope to target island residents as well as the general public during one of these existing events.

That the online engagement would offer a robust online campaign using a range of social media tools and our website to disseminate information about the engagement process. It will contain the same information about the Lasqueti Island LTA provided during the in-person engagement and encourage online participation on the issues.

We will provide an educational and fun opportunity to connect with youth during their school classroom time, and/or after school activities by getting them involved in the process. (This part depends on our local teachers.)

What I’d like to hear from you is whether you support some, or all, of these options, and whether you have suggestions as to when and where they should take place.  My thinking now is that the community drop-in and world café event should be held at the Community Hall some day during August or September. I’d like to hear suggestions about whether, when and where to hold an information booth. This might be held alongside another community event in July or August.  The on-line survey would be available to most, and could be made more easily accessible.

Please email me any suggestions or other ideas that you have.  Thank you very much.  Peter