Future bleak unless autonomy achieved, meeting is told

by Cameron Smith

An Island dominated by extremely wealthy, part-time residents and little or no sense of community is one of the possible futures outlined at an open discussion forum held recently. Rapidly rising land prices and a lack of effective mechanisms to control those prices is leading to Island gentrification and a reduction of community diversity, according to speakers.

About 40 people attended the forum to hear speakers from the Sustainable Salt Spring Island Coalition (SSSIC) and others talk about the future of the Island.

With charts and graphs as visual aids, Eric Booth talked about economic displacement, explaining that under the current bylaws and community plan, there are 4,650 homes on the Island out of a maximum of 6,500. He said that when the maximum number of homes is reached, land prices will rise beyond the reach of any but the extremely wealthy and lower income families will be forced off the Island.

The problem, he said, is with the Islands Trust and the limited tools with which they have to work in order to try to fulfill their mandate to "preserve and protect" the islands. The use of housing density to control Island population, he continued, is using the wrong tool.

"Here we are preserving and protecting our environment, we're preserving and protecting density, but does that preserve and protect our community? When it becomes a community of only rich people--who are not here year-round--it ceases to be a community."

More charts and diagrams appeared when John Wilcox got up to say that we're not paying enough attention to on-Island food generation. He said that his mixed-use farm has the potential to support three families, but current and pending legislation is going to reduce his total farming area to about one acre.

The Agricultural Land Reserve and the Islands Trust's land use bylaw, he continued, while designed to protect farm land, are doing nothing but preserving open space. "You can't force people to farm," he said.

He accused all levels of government of practising "government by generalization", and said we must come up with "some sort of harmony that allows us to farm."

On a more positive note, both Briony Penn and Romana Fry spoke about the growth across Canada and throughout North America of small, grassroots organizations working to preserve local ecology and communities. Penn said there is a trend to bring control over local ecologies down to the local level, but noted that there is currently no legislative mechanism in place to do that.

"All we have is the Islands Trust Act," she said, "and that's been shown in court to be completely ineffective."

But what has happened in the community regarding the Texada issue, although there is no central organization, no hierarchy, no boss, may turn out to be more effective. It is that sort of decentralized, grassroots model for change that is sweeping society, she said.

Bob McGinn and Eric Booth both talked about Salt Spring as a sovereign nation, comparing this Island to other island nations including the Isle of Mann, Guernsey, and the Cook Islands. Displaying a long list of island nations, Booth listed similarities and differences between those islands and Salt Spring.

"They're all vacation spots, heavily reliant on tourism," he said. "They all have high literacy rates, are proud of their countries, and they're all recognized for their unique environment and amenities."

Focusing on the differences, he said: "They're all sovereign. They have no taxes for residents and vehicle traffic is restricted to residents only. They have efficient transit systems. They restrict or have banned immigration. And they all receive huge revenue from banking fees.

"We believe it is possible for Salt Spring to become sovereign."

"The point is that they're there to copy," said McGinn. "They're there to take what information we want from them. A sovereign island off the west coast of Canada would be very strategically placed to do very well."

Further information about SSSIC and their goals can be found on their web site, www.freesaltspring.com.