Trust Fakes Democracy to Hide Czarism - Alcyonenews

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Islands Trust

Posted September 13, 2019

Trust Fakes Democracy to Hide Czarism

On August 21, the Trust announced its 3rd 2019 quarterly business meeting, “to be held in Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) and Tsleil-Waututh Nation territory,” on September 17 and 18, 2019.

But why go to the “Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw and Tsleil-Waututh Nation territory,” while they could meet on “Bowen Island”? Robert Service would find strange things happening under the Trust sky.

This event is different from those we got to know as “Quarterly Trust Meetings”. To begin with, it is a two-day event instead of the “usual” three day. One wonders whether a decision was made to reduce the meager input from the colonies (Trust Republic territory) to the metropolis in Lekwungen Territory a.k.a Victoria, BC. Perhaps the idea is to enhance the powers of the Czarismatic Trust ExCom whose “sovereign” power over the Trust Republic was threatened in recent years by an attempt to move the metropolis to the colonies. Shrinking the quarterlies would strengthen Trust Colonialism only a tad but this matters much because Czarism grows by ratchetting up the suppression of freedom a notch at a time.

It is remarkable that the Bowen event is billed: “Islands 2050 - The Future of the Trust Area”. This is a departure from the hitherto “quarterly Trust business meeting” which is, let say, a tad “dry” to the super-sexy themes such as this one. Anyway, what is this theme? The August 21st “News Release” reads as follows:

“ISLANDS 2050 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SESSION

Islands 2050 is Trust Council’s initiative to modernize its guiding document through public and First Nations engagement. We want to hear your stories, thoughts and ideas about what you value about the Trust Area. We are hosting an open house on Bowen Island to discuss the future of the Trust Area.

Information will be presented covering a range of topic such as climate change, ecosystem protection, and trends within island communities.

You are invited!”

I stand in awe of the generosity of this “invitation with an exclamation”. They want to hear from us? This is formidable.

One item in the “Two day Agenda” reads:

“6:15 PM Future of the Trust Area - Open House Community Engagement. Bowen Island Public Library.”

The whole thing somehow does not sound right. Knowing the Trust as I do, I see an effort to secure control of the Trust renovation process in the Trust’s own hands while creating fake optics of a fair process.

Anyway, to respond to their “invitation” to the Bowen Library for that “6:15 PM Future of the Trust Area - Open House Community Engagement”, most of us would have to take three BC Ferries and sleep one night in a Bowen park. The arrangement is highly conducive to the planning objective of participation minimization and diminution of attendance - a mere handful of Bowen Island locals drawn into that event would enable the Trust to brag about having engaged the public in imposing on us the Trust for another 30 years. It is reminiscent of the RAR Fritz Fiasco they staged to slam the vile SSI RAR on us.

Truth to be guessed at is that the Trust is after an elixir of life for itself. Evidently the Trust is out to talk about the next three decades so as to divert attention away from a review of it as it is, as it has evolved over half century of “governing” us.

This happens in the aftermath of the September 9, 2017, SSI Urbanization Referendum which resulted in a consensus that the Trust is broken and needs fixing. The plan is crafted by the Trust with a mind to seize the process, to do a “do it yourself fixing job, lest others take leadership and carry out a process which would resul in stripping the Trust of the facility to do more of what has already done and which necessitates the fixing. Biologists call it “self-preservation”.

After the Referendum, the Trust wiped the sweat from its forehead and laid itself down awaiting the dust to settle. But people became agitated and this caused the Trust to wake up and move surreptitiously to wrestle victory from the fangs of defeat. This instead of partaking in a meaningful public-driven process to transition the Trust to a body answering the needs of society. Instead of neing remorceful they are cocky and seek to manipulate the opportunity for boosting the powers of the Trust, to do the very things that almost drove us to risk relief in urbanization.

They seek to drag in the Provincial government, the one who steadfastly denied us all options other than the irreversible urbanization in 2017, and to marshall the aboriginal organizations, all in a show of credibility to deploy in creating a fait accompli. Then they will prod the people into bickering about some inconsequential details, about crossing the tees and dotting the i-es of the plan to perpetuate Trust paternalism, forever pretending preventing Magic Lake Estates springing up in the Islands like mushrooms after the rain.

It falls upon us to claim our right to govern ourselves, to become masters of our societal home like free people do, or to remain forever subjects of a Czarismatic Trust.

PS: After I had written this paper, on September 6, 20 (at 11:40pm), the Trust exploded the September 6 News Release in a new one billed “Engage! Islands 2050". This is not funny funny but invites questions and I will go over it in due course, of course.