We corrected a mistake. Version 1 asked for a study toward a town, while related campaign copy could be read as a promise to keep the Islands Trust. Version 2 still asks for a town and states plainly that current law is a constraint, not that promise.
If you signed version 1, your signature remains counted against the words you saw. Use the private link emailed to you to keep, amend, or withdraw it. Saving your signature confirms version 2; doing nothing does not pretend that you re-signed.
Version 2 (current)
Adopted 2026-08-23. Clarified that the petition asks for a town and does not promise to preserve the Islands Trust.
Kept the request for a provincial study toward municipal incorporation.
Explained that current law requires a municipality inside the Trust area to be an island municipality.
Stated plainly that abolition is a separate provincial petition and that planning could return to a municipality or the regional district.
We, the undersigned, call on the Province of British Columbia to study incorporating Gambier Island as its own municipality, with a council its residents elect and the ordinary powers of a BC municipality. Under current law that municipality would be an island municipality for as long as the Islands Trust area exists (Local Government Act s. 6). This petition is for a town. It is not a promise to keep the Islands Trust. Abolishing the Trust — and returning planning either to a municipality or to the regional district — is a separate petition at abolishislandstrust.org.
Version 1
Adopted 2026-08-15. Original island-town petition statement.
We, the undersigned, call on the Province of British Columbia to study incorporating Gambier Island as its own municipality — local decisions made by a locally elected, fully accountable council.
Private, personal project. Gambier Town is built and maintained by Tony Aly, who lives at Camp Denman, a property with longstanding land-use disputes with the Islands Trust. That interest is disclosed because readers should weigh it.