Public Voices on Islands Trust Bylaw Enforcement

Hi. My name is Mielle Chandler. I’m a tradesperson, a retired social and political scientist, a mother, a daughter, and a founding director of the newly-formed Gulf Islands Local Livelihoods Institute—GILLI for short.

I’m coming to you from Salt Spring Island, part of the unceded territories of Coast Salish Peoples.

This campaign is to raise funds to survey the public on their lived experiences with Islands Trust Bylaw Enforcement in preparation for an upcoming Trustee vote on a historic motion.

The motion is:

1. to suspend bylaw enforcement pending a review,

2. provide those enforced against the democratic right to appeal, and

3. for the Trust to adopt more equitable enforcement practices.

The Islands Trust is a unique colonial experimental alternative to the municipal government system. Formed in 1974 to prevent subdivisions, it has a “preserve and protect” mandate…which sounds noble and nice…but (….and as an environmentalist I find this utterly heartbreaking…) the mandate is being weaponized by bylaw enforcement in unfair and socially harmful ways.

Enforcement appears to disproportionately target moderate income working people, single women, and those disliked by the Trust’s bureaucracy. It appears to ramp up especially when the so-called ‘violation’ is minor, within the spirit of the law, or the accused party questions an Officer’s misinterpretation of the bylaws. The data collected will shed more light on this.

We’ve just recently had an election.

A couple of regular working people ran for office and got elected specifically to address the systemic problem of overly-draconian enforcement. These brave souls, new to politics, put forward the motion. The vote will take place at the 2023 March Trust Council meeting—the quarterly meeting of all 26 Trustees from the 450 Southern Gulf Islands in the Trust’s jurisdiction.

Imagine a restorative enforcement model aimed at peace-making, community-building, and restoring balance and respect.

Our current punitive complaint-based model breeds fear, evokes trauma responses, induces secretive measures, and creates polarization within our communities.

Alternative restorative enforcement models aimed at solving disputes and making things better really do exist, even here in BC, so there is no reason our model should be such a repressive one!

Two Trust-wide surveys on people’s lived experiences with and perceptions of enforcement, paid for by this fundraising campaign, will provide solid data for the rest of the Trustees to make an informed vote in March. Not only will the Trustees have this data at hand, it will also provide an important and telling public document for all Southern Gulf Islanders to draw upon. And those facing enforcement will know that they are not alone.

Without the funds to hold these surveys, the majority of Trustees will only be informed by a secret-to-the-people in-camera education session provided by the Trust bureaucrats—including the CAO who hires and directs the Bylaw Officers, and the Bylaw Enforcement Manager. This is akin to having the police investigate themselves.

The voices and experiences of the ‘end users’—those of us who have been subjected to enforcement—and there are many of us—will be absent from this unbalanced information session.

This funding for surveys is especially important because so very few of us are in a position to speak out about the issue. People fear vindictive enforcement, or they have land use applications before the Trust and can’t afford to rock the boat, or they simply just want to keep their heads down and stay hidden and out of trouble, but have a lot to say and contribute nonetheless. It truly is impossible for any Islander to live in accordance with the bylaws as they are interpreted, and misinterpreted, by the top echelons of the Enforcement Department.

That is why GILLI is stepping up, and why I’m here talking to you about raising the funds to survey residents. Surveys gather data while protecting the identities of those who contribute their voices.

The money raised will fund two surveys:

First, a broad survey by Salt Spring Insights, a professional market research team…

…and, second, an in-depth survey, run by GILLI, collecting feedback from folks who have been enforced against.

Funds will also go towards developing a website and sharing the findings with the Trustees and public.

With enough funds, we’ll also be able to invite people working in the field of restorative enforcement to speak and answer questions in a public Zoom seminar, and offer a web-based library of video stories and documents.

We all like to think that we live in a fair and just society. Many of those fortunate enough not to have been enforced against (*yet*) want to believe that enforced-against people are morally corrupt rule breakers who deserve what they get. Having spoken with many of those enforced-against, I can assure you that we are not bad people. And the vast majority of us are good stewards of the lands we hold.

Our bylaws are about land use conformity, not crime. They’re about whether or not you’re allowed to put up a tent when your grandchildren visit in the summer, where you’re allowed to plug in a kettle, plant a garden, store tools, host a bed-and-breakfast guest, repair a car, make art, build a staircase, or install a shower.

The political theorist in me wonders if the increasing hyperbole of our enforcement system can be chalked up to the bureaucratic ossification of the bylaws themselves.

When laws fail to accommodate the diversity of our communities and ways of living together, maybe the only way to enforce them is through nonsensical repression.

Your contribution to this survey initiative will help to bring data from people’s collective voices to the Trustees. With enough funds, the Institute will also be able to do some public education on how restorative enforcement models work.

Thank you for your support!