Feedback on Watershed Security Strategy and Fund Intentions Paper

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200-1627 Fort Street, Victoria BC  V8R 1H8 
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Toll Free via Enquiry BC in Vancouver 604.660.2421.  Elsewhere in BC 
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Email  information@islandstrust.bc.ca 
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April 17, 2023      File No.: 11-5420-30 
 
Via email: livingwatersmart@gov.bc.ca  
 
The Honourable George Heyman 
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
  
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
Water Protection and Sustainability Branch
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
PO Box 9362 STN PROV GOVT
Victoria B.C. V8W 9M2
Dear Minister Heyman,
Re: Feedback on Watershed Security Strategy and Fund Intentions Paper
I am writing on behalf of the Islands Trust Council to offer feedback on the Watershed Security Strategy
and Fund Intentions Paper.
We are pleased to see the provincial government co-developing a Watershed Security Strategy, with First 
Nations, and that development and implementation of the Strategy will honour the spirit and intent of
the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We are supportive of the policy intentions in the 
intentions paper and look forward to being involved in its eventual implementation. This topic is of great 
importance to the Islands Trust Area.
In 2019, the Islands Trust Council declared a climate change emergency, committing to take urgent and
fair climate action.
 In 2021, Trust Council affirmed that a housing equity and workforce shortage crisis 
exists in many of the islands within the Trust Area. As a federation of island governments, watershed 
protection and protection of freshwater is central to our work and our responses to the climate
emergency and workforce shortage crisis.
The Islands Trust was created by the Province 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, First Nations, other persons and 
organizations and the government of British Columbia."
A key word in this object of the trust statement is ‘cooperation’. Watershed protection and sustainability,
as with all land use, in the Islands Trust requires cooperation with regional districts, First Nations,
improvement districts and the Province. We hope that the provincial interest to “preserve and protect”
the
 Trust Area is considered in all relevant Watershed Security Strategy development processes and 
development of any subsequent legislation.
It is important to highlight that the majority of the drinking water supply on the islands is from privately 
managed domestic groundwater wells. The watersheds in the Islands Trust Area that generate this drinking
water are lived on by
 residents and also support industry, transportation, recreation, and the general 
livelihoods of island communities.  These watersheds are equivalent to engineered water systems in urban 
areas, but the p

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