Who really decides · AIT-DEM-001

You vote. Someone else says yes or no.

That is what we think. We are not saying trustees are unelected. We are not saying they have no power. Island voters pick two trustees. Those two are the local majority. The wider Trust picks the third one. That person runs the meeting. Every new local rule must go to the wider Trust to be approved. The wider Trust also sets the policy and the steps your committee must follow.

What we found

You vote for two of the three. You vote for none of the people who then say yes or no.

  1. YOUR COMMITTEE — Your island votes for two trustees. The head of Trust Council picks the third one from the Trust's Executive Committee. That person is not a trustee for your island. That person also runs the meeting. When your two trustees agree, they win the vote, two to one. The third person still gets a vote.
  2. THE GATE — Every new local rule must stop here first. Before it becomes law, it goes to the Executive Committee. That group can say yes. It can send the rule back and tell your committee what to change. Or it can say no. If it says no or sends it back, your committee can ask the full Trust Council to decide.
  3. THE WHOLE TRUST — Trust Council sets the budget. It writes the Trust Policy Statement. That is the Trust's own rule book. It can force your committee to follow set steps. It hires the staff all the islands share. And it makes the final call on rules the Executive Committee sent back or turned down.

Who actually decides what?

Your local majority can win the room. It does not control the whole system.

The Act divides authority across three layers. Meaningful decisions do stop at the local committee. The institutional controls that shape those decisions do not.

  1. Your Local Trust Committee: Can conclude many local matters

    • Decides many permits and case-by-case resolutions within its statutory powers.
    • Makes enforcement and prosecution decisions for its bylaws.
    • Votes on proposed zoning, land-use and official community plan bylaws.

    Limit: The local two form a majority when united. A local bylaw vote is not the end of the chain.

  2. Executive Committee: Gates every local bylaw

    • Receives every Local Trust Committee bylaw before adoption.
    • May approve it, return it with directions, or refuse it.
    • Provides the pool from which the Trust Council chair appoints the third local voting member and chair.

    Limit: If the Executive Committee returns or refuses a bylaw, the local committee may refer that bylaw to Trust Council.

  3. Trust Council: Controls the Trust-wide machinery

    • Adopts the annual budget and is responsible for financial management.
    • Sets general policy, adopts the Trust Policy Statement and can impose common procedures.
    • Appoints officers and employees, can direct duties to local committees, and decides referred bylaws.

    Limit: Trust Council includes every local and municipal trustee—including your area's two trustees—but no island controls it alone.

Above the Trust chain: The Province remains an approval actor too: an official community plan bylaw also requires ministerial approval, and the Trust budget and Trust Policy Statement require ministerial approval. Subdivision approval and several other local-government functions remain outside the Local Trust Committee's powers.

The demand

Give the land rules to a town council, on islands that vote to have one. Where there is none, give them to the elected regional district board.

Read and sign the exact petition.

Sources you can check

  1. Islands Trust Act, RSBC 1996, c. 239 — ss. 4–5, 8, 11, 14–15, 17, 20–24 and 27; verified 2026-08-24.
  2. Islands Trust — Local Trust Committees — Committee composition; verified 2026-08-24.

See how the Trust actually functions · What the courts decided · What did they do?