March 2026 | Transition Salt Spring
The Islands Trust is finalizing a new policy statement that will shape what gets built, what gets protected, and what kind of islands we live on for decades to come. Last week, Transition Salt Spring spoke with Trust Council in Duncan to make sure climate wasn't just a footnote. Here's what we said — and what we're asking for.
On March 10, Transition Salt Spring's Bryan Young and Pam Tarr travelled to Duncan to appear before the Islands Trust Council. Their message was simple: preparing for climate change needs to be a core guiding principle for the new Policy Statement, along with ecosystem protection and First Nations reconciliation.
The document in question – the Trust Policy Statement — is the core “rulebook” that guides all land-use planning across the Gulf Islands. Think of it as the constitution for what gets built, what gets protected, and what kind of islands we'll live on in the decades ahead. After years of consultation and drafting, the Trust Council is now close to approving a new version of this statement, and the window for community input is coming to a close.
In January, we submitted eight pages of detailed feedback. You can read our full submission here. Yesterday, the TSS delegation highlighted the parts that matter most.
The Big Ask: Put Climate at the Centre
The draft Policy Statement does mention climate change. But our core concern — laid out at length in our submission — is that it treats climate as one issue among many rather than as the underlying reality that will reshape everything else the Trust cares about.
Here's the practical difference. When planners decide where new homes can be built, whether a forest can be cleared, or how much water a development can draw on, those decisions need to account for a future that looks very different from the past. Our forests are drying out. Our water supply is under increasing pressure. Coastlines that seem stable today may not be in twenty years. Wildfire risk — already the most serious safety threat facing Gulf Islands residents — is growing.
We're asking Trust Council to formally recognize climate change as a governing condition: not a box to check, but an essential lens through which every planning decision must now be made. Just as the Trust has done the hard work of centring Indigenous rights and reconciliation in this new draft, it needs to do the same with climate.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada — not a group known for radical positions — puts it plainly: climate risks demand that we fundamentally rethink how we build, plan, and restore communities. In 2025 alone, insured weather-related damage in Canada exceeded $2.4 billion. These costs used to run no more than $500 million a year.
What Else We're Asking For
Our submission to the Islands Trust covers seven areas in total. Here's the short version of what we are asking the Trust to include in the new Policy Statement:
Stronger forest protection. Salt Spring Island lost 6% of its forest cover between 2002 and 2024. Healthy forests are the backbone of our water supply, our wildlife habitat, and our protection against wildfire. The draft Policy Statement needs clearer rules that keep development from fragmenting and drying out what's left.
Freshwater protection with firm rules, not soft suggestions. The draft treats many of its freshwater protection policies as advisory — meaning islands should consider them, not that they must follow them. Given how central water security is to everything else, we're asking that those policies be made mandatory.
Growth in the right places. Most new housing – except, for example, farmworker housing – should be directed to areas that are already serviced and settled, not sprawling into intact forests and sensitive areas. This protects ecosystems and keeps infrastructure costs manageable and buildings safer in the event of wildfire.
Measuring what we're trying to protect. You can't protect what you don't track. We're asking for regular, public reporting on the health of our island ecosystems — things like forest cover, water quality, and species habitat — so that islanders and their representatives can see whether the plan is actually working. It’s a huge problem even without a climate crisis that an organization charged with preserving and protecting the Gulf Islands doesn’t do this already.
A Plan Isn't Enough Without the People to Make It Happen
One of the less visible but important points the TSS delegation raised is this: even a great policy document can fail in practice if the people responsible for carrying it out are stretched too thin.
Planners, especially on islands like Salt Spring, spend most of their time processing individual permit applications — a necessary job, but one that leaves little room for the bigger-picture, long-range planning our islands will need more than ever. Trust Council will need to provide real, centralized support to each island's local planning committee: shared climate-risk data, technical tools, and the staffing to apply the new policies consistently and fairly.
Approving an ambitious Policy Statement without that support infrastructure isn't ambition — it's wishful thinking.
Our Bottom Line
This important process has been long. The new document reflects genuine learning and real consultation. But once Trust staff have integrated this final round of feedback and given climate change the precedence that’s required, it’s time to send this back to Council for approval.
More delay at this stage isn’t caution; it’s just avoidance.
Council approval needs to come paired with a clear, accountable commitment to implementation. The islands we're trying to protect can't afford half-measures.
We're proud to have participated, and we're grateful to everyone — islanders, First Nations, island organizations — who contributed to this process. It's an expression of the deep care so many of us feel for these rare and remarkable places we're lucky enough to call home.
Read our full January submission here: For more information on Transition Salt Spring, check out our website: https://transitionsaltspring.com/advocacy/. Questions? Reach us at info@transitionsaltspring.com
