Letter Minister Navdeep Bains MP

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Bowen  Denman  Hornby  Gabriola  Galiano  Gambier  Lasqueti  Mayne  North Pender  Salt Spring  Saturna  South Pender  Thetis 
 
 
 
 
200-1627 Fort Street, Victoria BC  V8R 1H8 
Telephone  (250) 405-5151    Fax  (250) 405-5155 
Toll Free via Enquiry BC in Vancouver 604.660-2421.  Elsewhere in 
BC 1.800.663.7867 
Email  information@islandstrust.bc.ca 
Web  www.islandstrust.bc.ca 
 
July 13, 2018 
 
via e-mail: ised.minister-ministre.isde@canada.ca 
 
File Number: 0400-30; 4700-20  
 
The Honourable Navdeep Bains 
Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development 
235 Queen Street 
Ottawa, ON K1A 0H5 
 
Dear Minister Bains: 
 
Re:  Designate Islands Trust Area eligible for Western Economic Diversification Program Funding 
 
The Islands Trust Council at its recent quarterly meeting on Saturna Island passed the following motion: 
 
“That Trust Council request the Chair to write to the federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic 
Development, responsible for Western Economic Diversification of Canada, to request that the Minister 
designate all islands in the Islands Trust Area as eligible for Community Futures funding and other granting 
programs for rural communities.” 
 
Therefore, I am requesting on behalf of the Islands Trust Council that the Minister take the steps necessary 
to make all islands in the Islands Trust Area eligible for Community Futures funding and other granting 
programs for rural communities. 
 
It has been a long-standing concern that Salt Spring lsland, those islands within the Capital Regional 
District’s Southern Gulf lslands electoral area, and Bowen Island within Metro Vancouver Regional District 
have been ineligible for economic development and infrastructure programs intended for rural 
communities due to their inclusion within the Capital Regional District and Metro Vancouver Regional 
District. We understand that the decision to exclude these areas from Community Futures funding was 
made at least 30 years ago. The decision to exclude these rural areas from rural funding programs does not 
reflect the true rural character, geography, land use or capacity to sustain services of these islands. 
Without access to these funding sources, rural island communities find it difficult to sustain community 
resiliency in the face of social and economic changes and to execute projects that improve community 
infrastructure.  
 
The object of the Islands Trust as set out in the provincial lslands Trust Act 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. 
 
 
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The Honourable Navdeep Bains 
July 13, 2018 
Page 2 
 
The Islands Trust is a federation of special-purpose local government bodies representing 26,000 people 
living within the I

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