Created in 1974 to curb Gulf Islands overdevelopment, the Islands Trust was built with a provincially-appointed majority and has accreted power ever since — including 24 years before it was even required to meet in public.
The Islands Trust was created on June 5, 1974 by the New Democratic government of Premier Dave Barrett.[3] Its origins were genuine: through the 1960s and early 1970s, large speculative subdivisions were carving up the Gulf Islands — most notoriously Magic Lake Estates, over 1,200 city-sized lots on North Pender Island.[4]
In 1973 an all-party provincial committee concluded the Gulf Islands "are too important to the people of Canada to be left open to exploitation by real-estate developers and speculators."[4] The Islands Trust Act, debated in the spring of 1974,[5] enshrined a mandate to "preserve and protect the Trust Area and its unique amenities and environment."[1]
The original governing structure tells you what the Trust was: of the five trustees on each local trust committee, two were elected by island residents and three were appointed by the Province.[4][5] From day one, the people who lived on the islands were a built-in minority on the body that controlled their land. (General trustees became elected positions in 1978.[2])
The Trust's authority only grew:[2] - 1977 — granted formal land-use planning authority. - 1987–1990 — gained a land-trust fund (with a trust fund board established in 1990, now the Islands Trust Conservancy) and a mandatory Policy Statement. - 1998 — only then was it legislated to hold open meetings — meaning for its first 24 years it was not required to meet in public. - 2021 — gained development-approval information bylaw authority (the power to demand information and studies from applicants) and the ability to delegate development permits to staff.
What began as a reasonable response to 1970s overdevelopment became a permanent, ever-expanding second layer of land-use government — one whose "preserve and protect" mandate, in our view, elevates a single purpose over all the competing needs of the people who actually live here.
Premier of British Columbia (NDP), 1972–1975 · 1930–2018
Premier whose government created the Islands Trust on June 5, 1974 as part of a wave of conservation initiatives. His administration imposed the Trust on the Gulf Islands in response to subdivision pressure.
Minister of Municipal Affairs (NDP) · in office 1972–1975
As Minister of Municipal Affairs, Lorimer carried the Islands Trust Act through the Legislature in 1974, moving the bill through committee. He was the cabinet sponsor of the regime.
MLA, Saanich and the Islands · 1970s–1980s
Curtis represented Saanich and the Islands during the 1974 debate and later, as a Social Credit minister, amended the Islands Trust Act in 1977–78 — part of the regime's steady expansion.
Former Islands Trust trustee; author of "The Islands Trust Story" · 2009
A former trustee who wrote the Trust's own institutional history, "The Islands Trust Story" (2009) — a key primary source for how the organization understands itself.