The Islands Trust Model of local governance

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/ Folk U - Today’s Folk U show is Lessons on Governance, Ecology and Protecting Rural Character: What Cortes can learn from the Islands Trust.

The Islands Trust is a special purpose government entrusted with a mandate to preserve and protect over 450 islands and surrounding waters in the Salish Sea. Known as the Islands Trust Area, the region comprises the Southern Gulf Islands, Howe Sound, and Denman & Hornby Islands.

In 1974, the Government of British Columbia acknowledged that unrestrained development arising from the Islands Trust Area’s proximity to major urban centres such as Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo and Seattle could irreversibly damage this uniquely biodiverse and ecologically sensitive region. It established the Islands Trust Act, a unique provincial legislation to preserve and protect the Trust Area and its unique amenities and environment for the benefit of its residents and of British Columbia generally. This gave rise to a federation of thirteen local trust areas / island municipalities, represented by twenty-six locally elected trustees, with a special regional mandate for conservation-oriented planning, regulation, inter-agency cooperation and advocacy.

In this show, Cortes Islander, Sobhana Dilani Hippola, shares some personal insights and reflections from her current role working as Senior Policy Advisor for the Islands Trust.