When You Can’t Just Vote Them off the Island

C2C Journal
Doug Firby
2022-02-06

Officious municipal bureaucrats are nothing new, Kafkaesque permitting processes are routine, and nosy bylaw officers interfering with property owners, home-business operators or pet owners are a familiar sight. But what is going on in British Columbia’s Gulf Islands is on a whole different level. There, many long-time island residents and business owners fear that an out-of-control environmental “trust” stands to ruin their livelihoods, lifestyles and properties. Doug Firby investigates and finds ideology running roughshod over common sense, planning overriding practicality and panic over climate change crowding out the accommodation of human needs.