WHAT WE’RE ASKING FOR
A Restructure Study. A referendum. A town.
Two recent BC communities walked this path. The legislation is clear. The process is well-marked. Here is what each step looks like.
The legal framework (statutory honesty)
The path forward is governed by two BC statutes. Under the Local Government Act §6, any community within the Islands Trust area that incorporates must be incorporated as an “island municipality” — there is no opt-out. Under the Islands Trust Act §38, an island municipality must submit its Official Community Plan to the Trust Executive Committee for approval before adoption. And under §7, the municipal council must appoint two of its own members to serve as municipal trustees on Trust Council.
Read the wrong way, this sounds like incorporation just adds a layer. It does not. Today, Denman is governed by a Trust Local Trust Committee — a three-person body chaired by a Trust appointee from elsewhere, with two locally-elected trustees. The LTC writes the zoning bylaws, runs the planning files, handles enforcement, and is staffed by Trust planners. The Trust runs roughly seventy percent of Denman’s local government from Victoria.
Under the Bowen model, the LTC dissolves. Denman elects a mayor and council. The council writes its own bylaws, hires its own staff, and runs its own affairs. The Trust’s role shrinks to one specific oversight: approving the OCP. Two of the elected councillors serve on Trust Council ex officio — they are not extra people. The annual property tax requisition to the Trust drops sharply, because Denman no longer pays into the LTC budget.
In one sentence: incorporation transforms the Trust relationship from “they run our local government” to “they approve our land-use plan and run the regional Conservancy.” That is a major change. It is also the maximum change available under current BC law.
The Bowen precedent
Bowen Island, a 20-minute ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay, faced a version of the same problem we face. By the late 1990s, its population had grown past 3,000. Its residents felt fragmented between the Greater Vancouver Regional District, the Islands Trust, and a constellation of community non-profits. After a Restructure Study commissioned by the Province in 1996, Bowen voted on 3 December 1999 to incorporate. Order in Council 1160 was issued on 2 September 1999, with effect 4 December 1999. Bowen became the first — and so far only — island municipality within the Islands Trust.
Today, Bowen has its own elected mayor and council. It runs its own land-use planning, building inspection, bylaw enforcement, fire protection, garbage collection, community recreation, public library, six water systems, a sewer system, public roads, public trails, municipal parks, beaches, and three public docks. Its annual property-tax requisition to the Islands Trust was $323,769 in 2022/23 and $345,989 in 2023/24 — and goes only to the Trust’s regional functions and Conservancy, not to local trust committees, because Bowen no longer has one.
Has it been perfect? No. Costs ran higher than the 1999 incorporation study predicted. Council politics have had their bad years. Some Bowen residents wish they had stayed unincorporated. But ask them whether they would give up having a council. Twenty-six years on, no serious effort has emerged to dissolve the municipality.
| Denman today (LTC) | Bowen since 1999 (island municipality) | |
|---|---|---|
| Land-use bylaws | Written by Trust LTC | Written by elected council |
| Bylaw enforcement | Trust officer (off-island) | Municipal staff |
| Building/siting permits | Trust LTC | Municipal staff |
| Off-island chair | Yes (Trust appointee) | No (mayor chairs) |
| OCP approval | Trust Executive Committee | Trust Executive Committee |
| Trust Conservancy | Yes | Yes |
| Annual Trust requisition | Full LTC rate | Reduced (Conservancy + regional only) |
| Two Trust Council seats | Two elected local trustees (separate from CVRD director) | Two of the seven elected councillors, ex officio |
The Okanagan Falls precedent
A community of about 2,700 in the Okanagan-Similkameen voted in March 2025 to incorporate, becoming BC’s first new municipality in fifteen years. The vote was 588 yes / 512 no — a 53 percent majority. The Province is preparing the Letters Patent for spring 2026, with the first municipal election scheduled for October 2026. Note in particular the timeline: the Province is delivering the Letters Patent in roughly twelve months from the referendum, which is fast for BC.
Denman is roughly half the size of Okanagan Falls. We are large enough.
The BC restructure process
Community-led request
A group of residents (us) petitions the Province for a Restructure Study. Petition signatures, a public case, and the support of the regional district help.
Province assesses interest
Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs reviews the request and decides whether to fund a study. The Trust has formally requested its own governance review twice (2022, 2024) — the political opening exists.
Restructure Study
An independent consultant, working with the community, the regional district, the Trust, and the K'ómoks First Nation, produces a detailed report on the financial, demographic, and governance implications of incorporation. Salt Spring's 2017 study cost the Province $255,000.
Public input and amendment
The study is published. Public meetings. Q&A. Revisions.
Referendum
Eligible electors (residents and property owners) vote yes or no.
Letters Patent
If yes: the Province issues incorporation papers, sets the first election date, transitions services. If no: the petition closes for a period, the patchwork continues.
We are at Step 1.
What happens next if you sign
- We collect signatures through the spring of 2026. The petition will close at a public event on Denman in late spring, at which point the campaign will deliver the signature record to the Office of the Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs in Victoria.
- We will use the signature totals to seek meetings with the Minister, with the Trust, with CVRD, with Comox Valley MLA Brennan Day, and with the K’ómoks First Nation Chief and Council.
- Whatever happens, every signer will be kept informed. This is going to be a multi-year campaign at minimum. There will be quiet stretches and busy ones. We will not waste your inbox.