Michael Sketch Delegation Request, Dec 1, 2020

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-----Original Message----- 
 
From: Michael Sketch   
Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2020 4:03 PM 
To: Lori Foster <lfoster@islandstrust.bc.ca> 
Cc: Michael Sketch  
Subject: M Sketch delegation request for 01Dec2020 trust council 
 
Lori - May I please be given a delegation opportunity at the 01Dec2020 7pm to 9pm evening session of 
Trust Council’s electronic) quarterly meeting?  
 
My delegation submission is attached. 
 
Thank you 
 
Michael Sketch 
North Pender Island 
 
 
 

Delegation submission to the Islands Trust Council from
Michael Sketch for an electronic quarterly meeting,
7:00 p.m. session on Tuesday, 1 December, 2020
structure and implementation of the trust policy statement
are trust area policies effective?
Trust councillors, staff and the Trust Programs Committee,
My September delegation argued that the trust policy statement is a regional plan 
for the trust area. The historical context is clear, as is the moral imperative.
The public believe that trustees have a duty of care to preserve and protect nature’s 
interest, which can not speak for itself. Nature does react when the built 
environment over extracts natural resources needed to sustain development.
But by then it’s too late.
In 1989 the province amended the Islands Trust Act (the Act). A watershed 
amendment which gave statutory force and effect to the electorate’s sense of a duty 
of care.
At S.15 of the Act, trust council must, by bylaw, adopt a trust policy statement.
Trust bodies are continued to further the trust object. The trust policy statement is a 
general statement of policies to carry out the object of the trust and may establish 
different policies for different parts of the trust area.
The legal logic is clear. The trust council corporation is continued to further the 
trust object and must adopt a statement of policies for the same purpose. It follows 
that if implementation of explicit preserve and protect policies is shown to be 
ineffective, that the buck stops at the trust council table.
One day the courts may affirm that a statement of policies to preserve and protect is 
‘no mere piety’.
Trust policies are best known for their role in local trust area bylaw review by Trust 
Executive. Draft local trust area bylaws submitted for review must not be contrary 
to or at variance with the trust policy statement.
Page 1 of 4

Structure of Trust Council Bylaw 17, the Trust Policy Statement
Directive policy is the gist of Trust Council’s trust policy statement bylaw 17, but 
the bylaw includes a hundred weight of advocacy, interpretations, explanation and 
good intentions.
In its current policy statement review, I hope the Trust Programs Committee will 
recommend publishing the valuable extras on the Trust website. A policy statement 
bylaw would be less ambiguous and mercifully shorter.
Over decades, the structure of directive policies has persisted. Each numbered 
preserve and protect policy has two components. The first component is arguably 
not policy but

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