Islands Trust Conservancy Board regular meeting, August 29, 2023

[0:00:00] Trustee Smith (probable): We're all ready. Okay, thanks. Welcome, everybody. And thanks for coming. This should be a short

[0:00:07] Trustee Smith (probable): meeting, hopefully. It's just for really for the one issue. But I do notice that we have a new

[0:00:12] Trustee Smith (probable): member here, Charles Kahn. So this is Charles's first meeting. Charles, maybe I was hoping once

[0:00:19] Trustee Smith (probable): we've got everybody together at the main meeting, I could do introductions to everybody. But maybe

[0:00:25] Trustee Smith (probable): you want to just very very briefly introduce yourself to the group um

[0:00:30] Voice 2: very briefly um i've

[0:00:32] Voice 2: been living on salt spring for over 30 years and uh been very involved with land acquisition and

[0:00:40] Voice 2: protection did a lot of work for the salt spring island conservancy uh years ago and uh

[0:00:47] Voice 2: i think my um my resume on the on the website gives you a lot of information about me so i

[0:00:54] Voice 2: I won't go on here, but I'm looking forward to meeting you all in person in October.

[0:00:58] Trustee Smith (probable): Yes. Thanks, Charles. And welcome. Welcome. And everybody else.

[0:01:03] Trustee Smith (probable): Oh, and I see we have David Marler here, too. Hi, David. Nice that you've come along to help.

[0:01:07] Trustee Smith (probable): So I'm going to start with just the agenda. So you've all seen the agenda.

[0:01:13] Trustee Smith (probable): I want to be sure that everybody's comfortable with the agenda. Are there any new items to add to the agenda?

[0:01:20] Voice 10: Agenda? No? Okay.

[0:01:26] Trustee Smith (probable): So I think we'll approve the agenda just by consensus. We don't need to have

[0:01:30] Trustee Smith (probable): a motion for that. The next item is the election of the vice chair. And I will ask you, because

[0:01:38] Trustee Smith (probable): I'm on an iPad, I can't see when they've got sharing screen, I can't see you, everybody's

[0:01:46] Trustee Smith (probable): hand. So if you do want to speak, could you raise your hand electronically? That would be

[0:01:53] Trustee Smith (probable): incredibly helpful to me okay so the first thing is the election of a vice chair we deferred that

[0:02:00] Trustee Smith (probable): from the last meeting and I'm just going to call oh and I think David were you going to manage the

[0:02:07] Trustee Smith (probable): election am I correct

[0:02:09] Voice 1: on that okay yeah that's why I'm here that way you can also participate

[0:02:13] Voice 1: okay

[0:02:14] Trustee Smith (probable): thanks a lot David so go for it

[0:02:16] Voice 1: okay thank you everybody and good morning or good afternoon

[0:02:20] Voice 1: noon and I'm coming to you from Victoria so happy to be on the territory and the Lekwungen speaking

[0:02:29] Voice 1: peoples. So for the election I'm going to just follow the usual process that we do which is a

[0:02:36] Voice 1: secret ballot and what I'll do is I'll call three times for nominations so anybody here can nominate

[0:02:43] Voice 1: anybody else and a nomination does require a seconder. If there's more than one nomination

[0:02:50] Voice 1: then we'll do a ballot and I'll do that by email. I'll send out to you by email and ask you to

[0:03:00] Voice 1: respond to that with your choice and then once I have that we'll have a scrutineer join me to count

[0:03:07] Voice 1: the ballots if there's only one then it's by acclamation and that person will then become

[0:03:13] Voice 1: the vice chair and we have no need to hold an election so is everybody okay with that process

[0:03:20] Voice 1: any concerns okay so with that then just and just maybe raise your electronic hand if you'd like to

[0:03:29] Voice 1: motion and nominate somebody just call the first time for nominations and they recognize that

[0:03:35] Voice 1: chair smith yes

[0:03:38] Trustee Smith (probable): i'd like to nominate susan yates i need a

[0:03:41] Voice 1: need a seconder for that nomination so

[0:03:45] Voice 1: i'll

[0:03:46] Voice 3: second that nomination okay

[0:03:48] Voice 1: that's trustee elliott and i will ask uh trustee yates if she

[0:03:53] Voice 1: wishes to stand as the vice chair for the islands trust conservancy yes

[0:03:58] Voice 5: i will do that thank you

[0:04:00] Voice 5: David. Thank you, Risa. And thank you, Toby.

[0:04:03] Voice 1: Okay, thank you, Susan. Okay, I'm going to ask

[0:04:06] Voice 1: a second time, are there any further, just lower your hand there, Trustee Yates. I can't, I will,

[0:04:13] Voice 5: but I can't get to it because the chat is in the way. Okay,

[0:04:18] Voice 1: I'll just do, okay, there we go. Thank

[0:04:21] Voice 1: you. Yeah, I'll ask a second time, are there any further nominations for Vice Chair of the

[0:04:28] Voice 1: the Islands Trust Conservancy. And I will ask a third and final time, are there any further

[0:04:38] Voice 1: nominations for Vice Chair for the Islands Trust Conservancy? Okay, seeing none, then I'll close

[0:04:46] Voice 1: the nominations. And we have one nomination, that is Trustee Yates. So by acclamation,

[0:04:52] Voice 1: Trustee Yates is the Vice Chair of the Islands Trust Conservancy. So congratulations, Susan.

[0:04:57] Trustee Smith (probable): Thank you, David. Thank you so much, Susan. And I'm sure we'll have lots of fun working together.

[0:05:03] Trustee Smith (probable): I'm sure we will.

[0:05:07] Voice 1: I'll drop out now and just take it back to the chair.

[0:05:10] Voice 1: So thank you very much and enjoy the rest of your.

[0:05:13] Trustee Smith (probable): Okay, thank you.

[0:05:15] Trustee Smith (probable): Trustee Gavreau, did I see something in the chat

[0:05:18] Trustee Smith (probable): that you're having problems with the meeting

[0:05:21] Trustee Smith (probable): or that's not relevant?

[0:05:23] Voice 6: What I'm noticing from Trustee Gavreau in the chat

[0:05:27] Voice 6: is that she cannot hear

[0:05:29] Voice 6: and I'm not sure if we can hear her if she speaks.

[0:05:34] Voice 6: but she's reading the closed captioning

[0:05:37] Voice 6: to try and follow along.

[0:05:39] Voice 6: So we've offered to try and get her in touch

[0:05:42] Voice 6: with one of our tech folks,

[0:05:43] Voice 6: but she doesn't have

[0:05:44] Voice 6: a phone with her.

[0:05:46] Voice 6: I'm not sure what to offer at this stage.

[0:05:49] Voice 6: I'm open to suggestions.

[0:05:55] Voice 10: Oh, the headset is working fine.

[0:05:57] Trustee Smith (probable): Okay, perfect.

[0:05:58] Trustee Smith (probable): So we're good now.

[0:06:00] Trustee Smith (probable): That's excellent.

[0:06:00] Trustee Smith (probable): Thank you, Trustee Gavreau.

[0:06:03] Trustee Smith (probable): Okay, so the next item on the agenda

[0:06:04] Trustee Smith (probable): it is the approval of the i don't know maybe you can hear me yes we can hear you yeah yeah

[0:06:12] Trustee Smith (probable): the next item is sorry for going this fast but i know that everyone's busy and it was supposed

[0:06:17] Trustee Smith (probable): to be a short meeting um the minutes of the meetings and resolutions without meetings

[0:06:24] Trustee Smith (probable): i don't think there are any uh meetings with resolutions without meetings but there is the

[0:06:31] Trustee Smith (probable): approval of the july 18th regular meeting minutes so what i'll ask is does anybody have any changes

[0:06:39] Trustee Smith (probable): to those meetings those minutes the july 18th

[0:06:43] Voice 10: regular meeting minutes any changes

[0:06:50] Voice 10: and put up your hand

[0:06:51] Trustee Smith (probable): oh how can i see that hold on uh okay i don't see any hands up

[0:06:58] Trustee Smith (probable): so in that case and i don't have any changes either i'll say that the minutes of the july

[0:07:06] Trustee Smith (probable): 18th regular meeting are approved by consensus and then the next agenda item is approval of the

[0:07:13] Trustee Smith (probable): july 18th itc ec as executive committee liaison minutes business were there any

[0:07:24] Trustee Smith (probable): changes to those minutes please put your hand up electronically if there are

[0:07:30] Trustee Smith (probable): don't see any hands maybe i'll just give people a minute no changes to that and i didn't have

[0:07:39] Trustee Smith (probable): any changes either i'll just note for people that there we didn't get through the whole agenda and

[0:07:45] Trustee Smith (probable): it's clear in that so there will be some follow-up meetings um but i'll just leave it at that so um

[0:07:51] Trustee Smith (probable): No changes. So in that case, we can also approve the liaison, the July 18th ITCEC liaison minutes meeting by consensus.

[0:08:04] Trustee Smith (probable): And then there's no other items for approval, I don't think. Am I missing something? No?

[0:08:14] Voice 6: Just the audit report, which is...

[0:08:17] Trustee Smith (probable): Yeah. And then

[0:08:17] Voice 6: I haven't got into

[0:08:18] Trustee Smith (probable): that yet. And then the next item, of course, is the audit report, which is why we're really here.

[0:08:25] Trustee Smith (probable): And so I think we've got some people here, Julia Mobs, maybe Claire Frader, Leonora and Kate, who will work us through the audit.

[0:08:37] Trustee Smith (probable): And then we can ask questions as they go through it. So who's going to speak? Is that you, Kate?

[0:08:43] Voice 6: yes i can speak to the briefing and then i'm definitely going to hand it over to lenora to

[0:08:49] Voice 6: take us through the audit itself this comes to the board every year for approval it's a

[0:08:56] Voice 6: requirement under the islands trust under the islands trust act it's a responsibility of the

[0:09:00] Voice 6: board to approve its own financial statements the board will remember that we have a budget

[0:09:07] Voice 6: that is approved by trust council that is managed by islands trust and actually appears in the

[0:09:11] Voice 6: the islands trust uh financial statements but the board also manages its own bank accounts and its

[0:09:16] Voice 6: own finances and so um it it needs to review and um and approve audits so the audit associated with

[0:09:24] Voice 6: that um so this year i'm going to just kind of take you through the briefing but i will um just

[0:09:31] Voice 6: acknowledge that i was away on vacation for the last couple of weeks and so um the final bits of

[0:09:37] Voice 6: of this briefing were prepared by Claire Frader and by Director Julia Mobs.

[0:09:42] Voice 6: And so if they have anything to add, I'll leave a little space at the end.

[0:09:46] Voice 6: But essentially, the audits were prepared as per usual,

[0:09:50] Voice 6: and all the information was provided to the auditors as as we would normally do every year.

[0:09:55] Voice 6: There are a couple of new pieces

[0:10:00] Voice 6: had to work through this year.

[0:10:02] Voice 6: year. A particular note is that there's a new accounting standard related to asset retirement

[0:10:09] Voice 6: obligations, which I think Lenore will take us through. But we essentially need to cost out

[0:10:16] Voice 6: what it would cost to deal with some of our building liabilities. And we have to the Ruby

[0:10:21] Voice 6: Alton house and then also the buildings on Link Island. So we'll have a little bit of a description

[0:10:27] Voice 6: of that. And you will see that in one of the notes to the financial statements.

[0:10:33] Voice 6: And then I guess the second piece is just a note that we have some contributions that were received

[0:10:39] Voice 6: this year, which were not completely recognized through the financial statements, but will be

[0:10:47] Voice 6: recognized when those funds are expended. And so they're recognized as deferred contributions

[0:10:53] Voice 6: and the Opportunity Fund.

[0:10:55] Voice 6: And I will leave all the questions and descriptions of that to the auditors

[0:11:00] Voice 6: and perhaps to Director Mobbs as the professionals who work through those pieces.

[0:11:06] Voice 6: I will also note that where possible, we use Indigenous names for our protected areas,

[0:11:11] Voice 6: and those are used in the financial statements.

[0:11:13] Voice 6: And then also that for the last few years, we have been also just noting the importance

[0:11:19] Voice 6: of the lands that we hold as natural assets.

[0:11:23] Voice 6: We don't have a way to quantify that in a monetary way, but it is important to just acknowledge that they are contributing to sort of the financial balance sheet, I suppose, for the islands.

[0:11:42] Voice 6: I think I will leave it at that. And just if there are any questions on the briefing, please let me know, but I will otherwise hand it over to our auditors.

[0:11:49] Voice 6: If

[0:11:53] Voice 10: you have any questions, I'll just remind you, put your hand up electronically. Thanks a lot.

[0:11:59] Voice 11: Great. Thank you for the introduction. I'll just share

[0:12:03] Voice 7: my screen here if you like, and I will bring up the financial statements as well as audit findings report.

[0:12:10] Voice 7: I'll just start with an overall status update on the audit. We are substantially complete the audit.

[0:12:18] Voice 7: it. We completed most of our work in July and the only items that are outstanding at this point in

[0:12:24] Voice 7: time are review of the financial statements with the board and approval as well. At that time we'll

[0:12:31] Voice 7: be ready to finalize our auditor's report as well as the financial statement. So nothing unexpected

[0:12:36] Voice 7: in terms of unexpected items. The first few pages of the audit opinion are the auditor's report

[0:12:44] Voice 7: And this provides the overall conclusion of our work, as well as the scope of our work and management, as well as auditors' responsibilities.

[0:12:55] Voice 7: So you'll see here in this particular paragraph, our conclusion is that the financial statements present fairly the financial position and operations of the Conservancy during the course of the year.

[0:13:09] Voice 7: That's what's referred to as a clean opinion or an unqualified opinion.

[0:13:13] Voice 7: There's no reservations that are included within it, and we are comfortable that the accounting rules that are required to be followed have been followed in these financial statements.

[0:13:24] Voice 7: One item that was removed from the auditor's report this year was a qualification over revenue.

[0:13:30] Voice 7: Often in not-for-profit organizations, there's some restrictions around how much revenue can be verified.

[0:13:37] Voice 7: Over the years the nature of the revenue of the Conservancy has moved away from things like cash sources or fundraising areas where only one individual has custody over cash, which is really what was driving that reservation.

[0:13:55] Voice 7: Based on the nature of today's revenues, we are comfortable that we are able to verify completeness over revenue and as a result that qualification was removed in fiscal 2023.

[0:14:06] Voice 7: So I wanted to highlight that this year. Other than that, you'll see the wording of the auditor's report is very consistent with previous years. Management is responsible for the preparation of the financial statements, and the auditors are responsible for the audit.

[0:14:22] Voice 7: We follow Canadian audit standards in the application of our work and the audit also includes things such as evaluating the financial statement disclosures and going concern of the organization.

[0:14:39] Voice 7: A couple highlights on the statement of financial position. I won't go through line by line and that these were included in your package, but just touch on some of the things that may be new or different this year.

[0:14:50] Voice 7: As a reminder, the Conservancy follows the fund accounting method and what that means is that

[0:14:56] Voice 7: you'll see various columns on the Statement of Financial Position. It tracks its money

[0:15:01] Voice 7: based on restrictions as well as what types of funds have been established.

[0:15:07] Voice 7: If there is a fund created, restricted capital or endowment fund, revenue is generally recognized

[0:15:14] Voice 7: at the time of cash receipt or at the time of donation.

[0:15:18] Voice 7: If there is no fund and there are restrictions attached,

[0:15:23] Voice 7: those types of items would be recognized as deferrals

[0:15:26] Voice 7: until eligible expenses are incurred.

[0:15:30] Voice 7: So the presentation overall is an important driver

[0:15:33] Voice 7: of how items are recognized in the statements.

[0:15:37] Voice 7: At the end of March 31st, 2023,

[0:15:41] Voice 7: the Conservancy had 19 million of total assets.

[0:15:44] Voice 7: assets. That's mostly made up of land that is held in the Conservancy's name of $18.4 million.

[0:15:52] Voice 7: You'll see there is an increase year over year in land as well as total assets, and the majority of

[0:15:58] Voice 7: that is due to the donation of Link Island during the year, which was valued at $1.2 million.

[0:16:05] Voice 7: The other increases or decreases in other asset accounts are primarily due to either cash received

[0:16:13] Voice 7: during the year, the Link Island donation did come with some restricted cash for eventual demolition

[0:16:20] Voice 7: of some structures. As well, there was some investment activity during the year,

[0:16:26] Voice 7: either reinvestment of GICs or market activity in the valuation of short-term and long-term

[0:16:34] Voice 7: investments. Excuse

[0:16:36] Trustee Smith (probable): me, Lenora. Sure. Did you want us, if we have questions on specific charts,

[0:16:42] Trustee Smith (probable): Do you want us to wait to the very end?

[0:16:44] Trustee Smith (probable): No, please ask

[0:16:45] Trustee Smith (probable): along the way.

[0:16:46] Trustee Smith (probable): Along the way.

[0:16:47] Trustee Smith (probable): I have one question about this chart.

[0:16:49] Trustee Smith (probable): So whenever you're ready, I can do it.

[0:16:50] Trustee Smith (probable): Yes, go for it.

[0:16:52] Trustee Smith (probable): Okay.

[0:16:52] Trustee Smith (probable): It says under liabilities due to Islands Trust.

[0:16:55] Trustee Smith (probable): Yes.

[0:16:56] Trustee Smith (probable): What is this?

[0:16:57] Voice 7: So those are monies that were received by the Conservancy, a grant.

[0:17:03] Voice 7: It's essentially species at risk grant.

[0:17:05] Voice 7: So because it's in the name of the Conservancy, the cash is held in this entity.

[0:17:10] Voice 7: When the costs are actually incurred and expended to meet the requirements of that grant, they're incurred by Islands Trust.

[0:17:20] Voice 7: So this due to is essentially reimbursing Islands Trust for the costs it has incurred under that grant program.

[0:17:29] Voice 7: Thank you.

[0:17:31] Voice 11: Great. In terms of total liabilities, these are amounts

[0:17:36] Voice 7: owing to other parties at the end of the year.

[0:17:39] Voice 7: As mentioned, deferred contributions is the new line item.

[0:17:43] Voice 7: And that's basically two bequests that were received during the course of the year that haven't been fully expended on their intended purpose.

[0:17:51] Voice 7: So a portion was restricted to specific lands and a portion was restricted to work on Hornby.

[0:17:57] Voice 7: So as those monies are expended, they will be brought into revenue to match the timing of when expenses are incurred.

[0:18:06] Voice 7: Asset retirement obligations of $80,000 is the new accounting standard that was adopted this year.

[0:18:12] Voice 7: and what that basically represents is costs that will be incurred in the future of assets that are

[0:18:20] Voice 7: in operation today. So the two that are noted in here are Link Island as well as the Ruby Alton

[0:18:27] Voice 7: house. Currently there are some expected costs that will be incurred when those assets are taken

[0:18:34] Voice 7: and out of service and 80,000 represents the estimated cost of remediating or removing those

[0:18:42] Voice 7: properties at the time of service at the time that that that is incurred so that is a new standard

[0:18:50] Voice 7: from an audit perspective we did review management's estimates of the approximate

[0:18:55] Voice 7: cost they expect to incur and we are comfortable that those values are appropriate and that 80,000

[0:19:02] Voice 7: is a reasonable value for those two properties. And then in terms of what is left or what's

[0:19:10] Voice 7: referred to as fund balance this is the accumulation of surpluses and it's broken

[0:19:16] Voice 7: down into a number of different components. In terms of what is available and unrestricted

[0:19:22] Voice 7: so not attached to a particular property no external restrictions on the amounts about

[0:19:29] Voice 7: about $85,000 is currently what's reported as unrestricted in the Opportunity Fund.

[0:19:35] Voice 7: That has decreased year over year in that there have been grants incurred and expended during the

[0:19:41] Voice 7: year greater than revenue received, so the unrestricted balance decreased year over year.

[0:19:48] Voice 7: Investment in land basically represents the same value of assets that are held. That is at

[0:19:55] Voice 7: historical cost or donated value at the time the property was acquired. So for accounting purposes,

[0:20:03] Voice 7: the values don't fluctuate and they're not recorded at the today value. This would be

[0:20:09] Voice 7: the donation value or the cash paid value at the time of acquisition. There are certain

[0:20:16] Voice 7: internally restricted amounts. That's the Conservancy's fund primarily for property

[0:20:22] Voice 7: management costs. And then the externally restricted balance represents monies that

[0:20:28] Voice 7: have been provided by external parties that are required to be used on certain properties. So

[0:20:34] Voice 7: $400,000 is restricted to be used in a certain way. And then restricted for endowment similar to land

[0:20:43] Voice 7: represents the amount that is reported in the endowment fund to be held in perpetuity.

[0:20:48] Voice 7: So overall on this statement of financial position, you'll see the cash and investments balance is quite strong, $647,000 compared to about $135,000 of bills owing or payables at the end of the year.

[0:21:05] Voice 7: The fund balances have changed mostly due to the donation of Link Island during the year.

[0:21:14] Voice 7: The next page, the statement of operations, shows the revenues and expenses for the year.

[0:21:19] Voice 7: so this is the surplus or deficit for the year by fund. The opportunity fund had a deficit of about

[0:21:27] Voice 7: $30,000 this year and that just represents grants expended that exceeded donations received during

[0:21:34] Voice 7: the year. The restricted fund represents costs of the properties under management and deficiency

[0:21:43] Voice 7: efficiency there of $42,000. So the costs incurred exceeded the grants received by about $42,000.

[0:21:51] Voice 7: And then lastly, the capital fund $1.2 million. Again, that represents the Link Island donation,

[0:21:58] Voice 7: the fair value at the time of donation. You'll see some increases and decreases in the individual

[0:22:04] Voice 7: revenue and expense categories. In total revenue, again, the main driver is the Link Island land

[0:22:11] Voice 7: donation. In expenses, you'll see the asset retirement cost, about $80,000. Again, was the

[0:22:19] Voice 7: main driver of the increase year over year. And then there was an increase also in the grants to

[0:22:25] Voice 7: external parties this year.

[0:22:29] Trustee Smith (probable): Laura, my hand is up there. Yes, go ahead.

[0:22:32] Trustee Smith (probable): What is conservation

[0:22:33] Trustee Smith (probable): stimulus? It was apparently last year we had it, but not this year.

[0:22:37] Voice 7: Yes, again, a grant program that

[0:22:39] Voice 7: had expenses incurred in 2022 but wound up in last year so no continuing expenses this

[0:22:47] Voice 7: year related to that grant.

[0:22:54] Voice 11: Does that answer your question? I was

[0:22:58] Trustee Smith (probable): just wondering what grant

[0:22:59] Trustee Smith (probable): program it seems odd like it's not a huge amount of money so is that a COVID program or something?

[0:23:05] Voice 7: No it was a multi-year program so only 38,000 of

[0:23:09] Voice 7: it was recognized in 2022 the rest in 2021 and 2020.

[0:23:12] Voice 7: 2020.

[0:23:13] Voice 10: Okay, thank you. Okay, great.

[0:23:18] Voice 11: This next page is the statement

[0:23:20] Voice 7: of change in fund balances. The

[0:23:22] Voice 7: purpose here is just to show if there are other components to changes in fund balances. In both

[0:23:30] Voice 7: years, the only modifications are the revenue and expenses of the fund. So as an example, there was

[0:23:36] Voice 7: no transfers between funds. The opportunity fund did not move any money into restricted funds,

[0:23:42] Voice 7: and there was no assets that were moved between the endowment or capital fund during the year.

[0:23:51] Voice 7: The cash flow statement is the last numerical statement and the purpose here is just to show

[0:23:56] Voice 7: the inflows and outflows of cash in their various category of operating capital or investment.

[0:24:04] Voice 7: Operating represents day-to-day activities of the conservancy so this would be receiving grants,

[0:24:12] Voice 7: paying the day-to-day bills, receiving donations and overall that subtotal of $15,000

[0:24:21] Voice 7: represents $15,000 of cash usage overall from day-to-day activities. Capital activities

[0:24:29] Voice 7: recognizes cash inflows from things such as cash from land and so what this represents is the Link

[0:24:40] Voice 7: Island donation also came with some money to remediate or fund the future removal of the

[0:24:47] Voice 7: structures on that property. And so there is a cash inflow, cash received related to capital

[0:24:53] Voice 7: activity there. And then lastly, investing activities just represents the cash in or out

[0:24:59] Voice 7: related to short and long-term investments. A small change this year, about $1,800 that was

[0:25:05] Voice 7: is reinvested. That represents interest earnings primarily. Overall, those three categories

[0:25:11] Voice 7: represented an increase in cash of $62,000. The notes to the statements, I won't go through in

[0:25:19] Voice 7: detail, but again, just highlight anything that may be of interest or new and different during

[0:25:24] Voice 7: the year. Note one is essentially the accounting rules that the Conservancy follows in the

[0:25:30] Voice 7: the preparation of these financial statements. The only change year over year is the addition

[0:25:36] Voice 7: of the asset retirement obligation standard. So this policy describes what an asset retirement

[0:25:44] Voice 7: obligation is, and that it is recognized at the estimated cost of remediation.

[0:25:53] Voice 7: The natural assets note is, again, one that has been included in previous years. It was

[0:25:59] Voice 7: as mentioned in the briefing, but it does indicate that there are a number of natural assets

[0:26:05] Voice 7: that have not been valued in the financial statements, but certainly the Conservancy

[0:26:10] Voice 7: benefits from them.

[0:26:14] Voice 11: Kate, go ahead. Did you have a question or comment to add?

[0:26:20] Voice 6: Yes. Sorry, I wanted to go back to the question from Chair Smith about the Conservation Stimulus

[0:26:27] Voice 6: fund um I just wanted to clarify actually that was just a one-year grant um I just had to go

[0:26:34] Voice 6: back and prior financial statements just to make sure that I wasn't misremembering but it was

[0:26:39] Voice 6: related to COVID stimulus but um I'm trying to remember I think it was through the provincial

[0:26:44] Voice 6: government that we received that great thanks so apologies I just wanted to correct that for

[0:26:50] Voice 10: Thank you.

[0:26:56] Voice 11: Okay, in terms of notes, so note four is

[0:27:01] Voice 7: an additional note this year. Again, in terms of the asset retirement obligation, this is the estimated cost to remediate structures in future years that is recognized today. So those are new details added. And again, from an audit perspective, we are comfortable those values represent the estimated today cost.

[0:27:22] Voice 7: cost. Land, these are the details of the properties that are held by the Conservancy with one

[0:27:31] Voice 7: addition of Link Island in the current year. The $1.2 million represents the appraisal

[0:27:37] Voice 7: value of that property at the time of donation. We have reviewed the financial information

[0:27:43] Voice 7: that was received and are comfortable with that value as an estimate of fair value at

[0:27:48] Voice 7: the time. These two notes just indicate the distribution of funds in the restricted fund

[0:27:57] Voice 7: balance, so the amounts that are held within each of the funds. A couple typos were noted

[0:28:05] Voice 7: yesterday and corrected in this version that I have on the screen. In the package there was

[0:28:11] Voice 7: one line item related to Western Owl and that has been included in Thetis Island instead as

[0:28:18] Voice 7: that represents where that money should be and then the Hornby fund had zero balances and that

[0:28:25] Voice 7: line item was just removed.

[0:28:31] Voice 11: Note nine indicates the

[0:28:34] Voice 7: costs that are paid by Islands Trust and the

[0:28:38] Voice 7: details of the components there so those costs are not included in the Conservancy financial

[0:28:43] Voice 7: statements but are disclosed by type and lastly there was one activity that occurred after year

[0:28:53] Voice 7: year end. So after March 31st, that is disclosed here and some details as to the acquisition of

[0:29:00] Voice 7: the donated assets that will be recognized as revenue in fiscal 2024. But because it has been

[0:29:07] Voice 7: a transaction incurred before the finalization of these statements, it's disclosed as an activity

[0:29:13] Voice 7: after year end. Those

[0:29:17] Voice 11: were the highlights of the statements I wanted to touch on. Are there any

[0:29:21] Voice 11: any other comments or questions? Okay. Yeah.

[0:29:28] Voice 10: I have one quick

[0:29:29] Trustee Smith (probable): comment. Go ahead. I just want

[0:29:31] Trustee Smith (probable): to clarify. So on the chart that says six restricted fund balances and the all to nature

[0:29:39] Trustee Smith (probable): reserve has been reduced, but is that reduction because of the liability? It's on page 29 or

[0:29:50] Trustee Smith (probable): or maybe 11 of your report?

[0:29:52] Voice 7: Yes, a portion of it is related to current costs,

[0:29:56] Voice 7: so day-to-day expenses, and yes, another portion.

[0:30:00] Voice 7: is related to the asset retirement obligation okay thanks okay

[0:30:10] Voice 11: great and I'll just touch on

[0:30:12] Voice 7: quickly a couple comments from the audit findings report I've tried to cover the material as we've

[0:30:17] Voice 7: gone through the financial statements the items I wanted to cover are just those areas of required

[0:30:22] Voice 7: communication based on the audit standards so on this page here just wanted to highlight that

[0:30:28] Voice 7: annually we do confirm our independence that there are no other services that were provided

[0:30:34] Voice 7: that would impair our ability to perform an independent audit of these financial statements.

[0:30:42] Voice 7: In every audit, we are required to perform certain procedures over the risk of fraud,

[0:30:48] Voice 7: specifically from management override of controls. And what that means is that, you know, day-to-day

[0:30:54] Voice 7: internal controls over paying bills, over review and approval of financial records may be operating

[0:31:02] Voice 7: effectively, but management is in a position to be able to record entries at year end

[0:31:08] Voice 7: to impact the financial statements in how they're reported. Regardless of size of organization,

[0:31:15] Voice 7: industry, risk, there are certain procedures we perform on all audits, and those are

[0:31:20] Voice 7: documented here. They include things like testing journal entries, reviewing estimates and

[0:31:27] Voice 7: significant unusual transactions and we had no issues or concerns to bring to the board's

[0:31:32] Voice 7: attention. This page just indicates a summary of the work performed over asset retirement

[0:31:39] Voice 7: obligations and I think I've noted that through our work and review of the financial statement

[0:31:45] Voice 7: so I wasn't going to go into detail. Likewise for land, again I mentioned that we had reviewed the

[0:31:52] Voice 7: appraisal report which is the primary source of evidence for the valuation of that land

[0:31:57] Voice 7: And then we did review all of the donation agreements attached to that transaction as well.

[0:32:02] Voice 7: There was no issues or adjustments noted.

[0:32:05] Voice 7: And then this page just indicates a summary of, for the other accounts that were not specifically noted, the types of procedures that we perform.

[0:32:14] Voice 7: These are pretty consistent on a year-over-year basis.

[0:32:17] Voice 7: Our audit approach is risk-focused, so we typically focus in on those areas that are higher risk of error.

[0:32:25] Voice 7: They may be unusual, non-recurring, and review the supporting documentation to evaluate if they've been recorded accurately based on accounting standards.

[0:32:36] Voice 7: Overall, in our audit work, we have not noted any corrected or uncorrected audit differences.

[0:32:42] Voice 7: So that's a very clean position as well.

[0:32:45] Voice 7: the initial draft financial statements that we received we had no numerical adjustments that

[0:32:52] Voice 7: were required to be made prior to presentation to you today there are always some good practice

[0:32:59] Voice 7: disclosure items some wording recommendations that we make here or there but no significant

[0:33:05] Voice 7: issues to bring to your attention similarly there were no internal control deficiencies

[0:33:11] Voice 7: that we noted. These would be areas that may suscept the organization to a higher likelihood

[0:33:18] Voice 7: of error in the financial statements, and we had no matters to bring to your attention.

[0:33:25] Voice 7: The rest of this report I wasn't going to go through in detail. Again, it includes some

[0:33:30] Voice 7: required areas of communication. A management representation letter will be received on

[0:33:35] Voice 7: finalization of the financial statements. That just indicates we've received all the information

[0:33:39] Voice 7: we need to, as well as some future accounting standards that we'll continue to work with

[0:33:44] Voice 7: management on that will be adopted in future years. Overall, just to conclude, this was a

[0:33:52] Voice 7: really clean audit that we worked through with management, that we are very grateful for all of

[0:33:59] Voice 7: the support that we received, really good technical documentation as well as memos that helped to

[0:34:05] Voice 7: assist in the efficiency of concluding on our audit work so we'd like to thank management for

[0:34:10] Voice 7: that happy to address any other questions you might have um

[0:34:15] Trustee Smith (probable): kate your hand is still up did

[0:34:17] Trustee Smith (probable): you have something to address no

[0:34:21] Voice 6: thanks sorry about that are

[0:34:24] Trustee Smith (probable): there any questions this is a

[0:34:25] Trustee Smith (probable): really good chance to um talk to the auditor and since so many of us are new um to understand our

[0:34:31] Trustee Smith (probable): financial situation does anybody have any questions for lenora

[0:34:35] Voice 10: nobody trustee yates

[0:34:46] Voice 10: you're on mute trustee yates you're on mute right

[0:34:49] Voice 8: i too would like to thank management for working

[0:34:53] Voice 8: with kpmg to have such an incredibly readable report and such a favorable outcome thank you

[0:35:00] Voice 8: thank you i'm sure you're speaking for all

[0:35:04] Trustee Smith (probable): of us with that because i was also very impressed with

[0:35:07] Trustee Smith (probable): with how easy it was to follow this report

[0:35:10] Trustee Smith (probable): and figure out what's going on.

[0:35:12] Trustee Smith (probable): So thank you very much, Lenora and all your colleagues.

[0:35:14] Trustee Smith (probable): Any other questions, comments?

[0:35:17] Trustee Smith (probable): Ah, Julia

[0:35:19] Voice 4: Moabs, Julia.

[0:35:22] Voice 4: Thanks chair, just a brief comment.

[0:35:24] Voice 4: When we were going through the financial statements

[0:35:27] Voice 4: on the statement of cash flows

[0:35:29] Voice 4: on page 22 of the agenda package,

[0:35:31] Voice 4: I just happened to catch that under capital activities,

[0:35:34] Voice 4: it's noted that $79,000 was cash received for the settlement of asset retirement obligations.

[0:35:40] Voice 4: That presentation may need to be updated. $36,000 was received in cash and the remainder was

[0:35:47] Voice 4: recognition simply of a new asset retirement obligation. So there's no, the dollar figure

[0:35:52] Voice 4: is correct. I think we may just have to split it up into two lines there. Just wanted to make

[0:35:58] Voice 4: the board aware of that.

[0:36:00] Voice 10: So you disappeared for me. So I don't know that there's a change.

[0:36:04] Voice 10: change?

[0:36:06] Voice 4: Just a small presentation change on the statement of cash flows. We'll be breaking that

[0:36:12] Voice 4: $79,000 related to asset retirement obligations into two lines most likely or rephrasing the name

[0:36:19] Voice 4: of that line to acknowledge that that full amount was not cash received. Only $36,000 was cash

[0:36:26] Voice 4: received. Okay.

[0:36:30] Trustee Smith (probable): Any other questions? Thanks. Thanks, Julia. And we'll, in our motion, we'll

[0:36:34] Trustee Smith (probable): reflect the change. Oops.

[0:36:38] Voice 10: Any other? I don't see any other hands. No. Last chance. Fantastic.

[0:36:46] Trustee Smith (probable): So there is a motion. And would someone like to read the motion? And it should be changed slightly

[0:36:54] Trustee Smith (probable): to reflect the change that Julia just highlighted. Kate, do you want to put the motion up on the

[0:37:02] Trustee Smith (probable): screen um

[0:37:04] Voice 6: yes i can do that what i would suggest to the board because there's the amendment that

[0:37:09] Voice 6: julia just suggested but there are also a few other presentation changes that were made between

[0:37:15] Voice 6: the package and what was presented to the board so i would suggest that you might want to approve the

[0:37:21] Voice 6: the financial statements as amended but i will put up that um that part of the package

[0:37:28] Voice 6: for

[0:37:29] Voice 10: board consideration okay i can make the

[0:37:37] Voice 3: motion if we're ready yes please yes please

[0:37:41] Voice 3: i move that the islands trust conservancy board approve the audited financial statements

[0:37:47] Voice 3: as amended for the 2022-23 fiscal year and refer the statements to islands trust council for

[0:37:55] Voice 3: for information.

[0:37:57] Voice 8: I'll second that motion.

[0:37:59] Voice 8: Susan.

[0:38:00] Voice 8: Thank you, is there any discussion?

[0:38:05] Trustee Smith (probable): Let me see, or any comments?

[0:38:09] Voice 10: Maybe you could raise your hands if you approve.

[0:38:18] Voice 10: Oh, only two people are, okay, wait a minute.

[0:38:21] Trustee Smith (probable): Is everybody approving?

[0:38:23] Trustee Smith (probable): Can everybody, Charles, can you raise your hand

[0:38:26] Trustee Smith (probable): if you approve?

[0:38:27] Voice 2: My hand is raised.

[0:38:29] Trustee Smith (probable): Oh, it doesn't show up on my screen.

[0:38:30] Trustee Smith (probable): Why that is, I have no idea, okay.

[0:38:32] Trustee Smith (probable): Okay. And I approve. So I think we have approval. Everybody approves. Great. So the motion is

[0:38:39] Trustee Smith (probable): approved. Thank you, everybody. Great job,

[0:38:42] Trustee Smith (probable): everyone. Thank you.

[0:38:45] Trustee Smith (probable): I'd like to make, so we're

[0:38:47] Trustee Smith (probable): pretty well, we don't have any other items for discussion. We don't have any correspondence,

[0:38:55] Trustee Smith (probable): updates for information. There's none, except to remind you that the next meeting is October 3rd,

[0:39:01] Trustee Smith (probable): and it's going to be in person um i do have one comment at the beginning i forgot to do

[0:39:08] Trustee Smith (probable): an acknowledgement of the land that we're on and i apologize for that but i'd like to do it now

[0:39:14] Trustee Smith (probable): just to remind people that we are on unceded territory of many different nations all of us

[0:39:20] Trustee Smith (probable): all over the place um of generally the coast salish people and to thank them very much for

[0:39:26] Trustee Smith (probable): the privilege of being here so thank you for letting me do that and i apologize for not doing

[0:39:32] Trustee Smith (probable): it at the beginning um any other updates anybody wants to raise no

[0:39:40] Voice 10: kate anybody no

[0:39:45] Trustee Smith (probable): in that case

[0:39:46] Trustee Smith (probable): the meeting can be adjourned and we can just do that by consensus so if there's no one who

[0:39:52] Trustee Smith (probable): disagrees with adjourning the meeting yes trustee

[0:39:55] Voice 3: elliott just a quick question the next meeting

[0:39:57] Voice 3: is in person is that correct we changed that is correct

[0:40:01] Voice 3: okay thanks the

[0:40:03] Trustee Smith (probable): next meeting is in

[0:40:04] Trustee Smith (probable): person at the islands trust office on october

[0:40:07] Trustee Smith (probable): 3rd and for those of you who are new i'm sure that

[0:40:11] Trustee Smith (probable): kate will send out an email reminding us that it's in person and charles you might want to

[0:40:16] Trustee Smith (probable): you know need a little bit of help on how to make your claims and that kind of stuff

[0:40:20] Trustee Smith (probable): okay thanks everybody i look forward to seeing everybody and the meeting is adjourned

[0:40:27] Trustee Smith (probable): early yay um and thank you very much okay see you all on october 3rd thanks thanks bye everyone

ADOPTED 
 
Islands Trust Conservancy Board DRAFT Page 1 of 4 
Special Meeting Minutes                           
August 29, 2023 
Islands Trust Conservancy Board 
Minutes of the Special Meeting 
 
Date:  
Time:  
Location:  
Tuesday, August 29, 2023 
1:00 p.m. 
Electronic Zoom Meeting 
Islands Trust - Victoria 
200 - 1627 Fort Street, Victoria, BC 
 
Board Members Present Risa Smith, Chair 
 Charles Kahn, Trustee 
 Lisa Gauvreau, Trustee  
 Susan Yates, Trustee 
 Tobi Elliott, Trustee 
  
Board Member Regrets Ken Thomas, Trustee 
  
Staff Present Clare Frater, Trust Area Services, Director 
 David Marlor, Legislative Services Director, left at 1:07 p.m. 
 Kate Emmings, Manager 
 Julia Mobbs, Administrative Services, Director 
Corlynn Strachan, Administrative Assistant/Recorder 
  
Guest Lenora Lee, KPMG Auditor 
  
Members of the Public There were no public attendees 
 
1. CALL TO ORDER 
Chair Smith called the meeting to order at 1:02 p.m. 
1.1 Introductions 
Chair Smith welcomed the newest ITC Board member Charles Kahn. 
2. ELECTIONS 
2.1 Election of Vice-Chair 
Director Marlor acknowledged he was located in Victoria on the lands of the Lekwungen 
speaking peoples, reviewed the election process, and administered the election for Vice-
Chair. 
Director Marlor called the first time for nominations. Chair Smith nominated Trustee 
Yates and Trustee Elliott seconded the nomination. Trustee Yates accepted the 
nomination. 

ADOPTED 
 
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Special Meeting Minutes                           
August 29, 2023 
David Marlor called for nominations a second and third time, and hearing none, the 
closed nominations. 
By acclamation, Trustee Yates was declared Vice-Chair of the Islands Trust Conservancy. 
Director Marlor left the meeting at 1:07 pm. 
3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 
By general consent, the Islands Trust Conservancy Board approved the agenda as presented. 
4. RISE AND REPORT 
There were no items to report. 
5. MINUTES/COORDINATION 
5.1 Minutes of Meetings/Resolutions without Meetings 
5.1.1 Approval of the July 18, 2023 Regular Meeting Minutes 
By general consent, the Islands Trust Conservancy meeting minutes of July 13, 
2023 were adopted. 
5.1.2 Approval of the July 18, 2023 ITC-EC Liaison Minutes 
By general consent, the Islands Trust Conservancy-Executive Committee 
meeting minutes of July 13, 2023 were adopted. 
6. BUSINESS 
6.1 Items for Approval 
6.1.1 2022/23 Audited Financial Statements – Request for Decision 
Manager Emmings presented the request for decision, noting this comes to the 
Board annually for approval and is a requirement under the Islands Trust Act. 
Lenora Lee, KPMG Auditor, provided a summary of the Audited Financial 
Statements and the Audit Findings Report, noting there were no issues or 
concerns to bring to the Board’s attention. 
Director Mobbs advised that on the Statement of Cash flows (page 22 of the 
agenda package) under capital activities, it’s noted that $79,000 was cash 
received for the settlement of asset retirement obligations, and so the 
presentation may need to be updated. $36,000 was received in cash and the 
remainder was recognition of a new asset retirement obligation.  
Manager Emmings recommended the resolution to note “as amended” to 
incorporate this change and the following edits: 

ADOPTED 
 
Islands Trust Conservancy Board DRAFT Page 3 of 4 
Special Meeting Minutes                           
August 29, 2023 
 On the Statement of Operations, rename “Donations to conservancy 
groups” to “Grants to external parties” to reflect the category used in the 
2021/22 financial statements. This is ITC management’s preferred 
presentation.  
 On the Financial Statement, Note 6 
- $1,301 showing in 2022 Western Screech Owl Fund should be in 
2022 Thetis Island Acquisition Fund 
- Remove line for Western Screech Owl Fund, these are project funds 
and will be recognized when expended 
- Remove line for Hornby Island Fund, these are project funds and 
will be recognized when expended  
ITC-2023-027 
It was MOVED and SECONDED, 
that the Islands Trust Conservancy Board approve the Audited Financial 
Statements as amended for the 2022/23 fiscal year, and refer the statements to 
Islands Trust Council for information. 
CARRIED 
6.2 Items for Discussion/Direction 
None. 
6.3 Correspondence 
None. 
6.4 Updates for Information 
None. 
7. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND DELGATIONS 
There were no public attendees. 
8. NEW BUSINESS 
There was no new business. 
9. NEXT MEETING 
The next meeting will take place on October 3, 2023 at 10:00 am in Victoria, in person. 
10. ADJOURNMENT 
Chair Smith acknowledged that the meeting was held on the territory of the Coast Salish First 
Nations. 

ADOPTED 
 
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Special Meeting Minutes                           
August 29, 2023 
By general consent, the meeting adjourned at 1:43 p.m. 
 
 
_________________________ 
Risa Smith, Chair 
 
Certified Correct: 
 
 
_________________________ 
Corlynn Strachan, Administrative Assistant/Recorder