From Gambier kid to community builder
Sam has been coming to Cha7élkwnech/Gambier since she was two years old. She grew up getting candy at the store, jumping off the pier, dancing to Nearly Neil at the community centre and attending Camp Artaban. As a teenager, she took the Stormaway to work in Langdale for three summers and landscaped for neighbours on Gambier. Her connection to the island and its people runs deep.
Sam knows the Islands and their communities.
She has hiked throughout Gambier conducting research, served as a director of the Gambier Island Conservancy and travelled widely across the Islands Trust Area. As manager of the Gambier Island Community Association's REDIP project, she achieved a high level of community engagement and helped distribute more than $50,000 among Gambier communities.
Sam is also deeply familiar with the wider Átl’ka7tsem/Howe Sound region. During more than two years managing projects at the Howe Sound Biosphere Society, she collaborated with local governments across the region, environmental organizations and the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw/Squamish Nation.
Sam has seen the island change. She understands the importance of protecting its unique ecosystems while sustaining the special relationships island communities have with the land and water.
Sam brings people together and gets things done.
A skilled convener, communicator and project manager, Sam actively seeks out different viewpoints, listens carefully and builds consensus rather than division. She understands local concerns and knows how to navigate, and influence, the larger systems where decisions are made.
Sam is a young leader committed to representing the unique interests of all communities within the Local Trust Area and advocating for future generations. Inclusion, transparency and accountability are central to her work.
Experience at a glance
- Managed the Gambier Island Community Association's REDIP project: $50,000+ distributed among Gambier communities
- Director, Gambier Island Conservancy
- 2+ years managing projects at the Howe Sound Biosphere Society, working with local governments, environmental groups and the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw/Squamish Nation
- On Gambier since age two: summers, first jobs and community life
Questions people ask me
Straight answers, in my own words.
Why do you want to be a Trustee?
I want to make a difference. My perspective, experience and skills will help the Islands Trust achieve its mandate in a balanced way, based on strong community input. I believe the Islands Trust can better balance the practical needs of property owners with the need to preserve the natural environment for future generations.
I know this community and I have a proven ability to bring community, government, First Nations and the business sector together to forge solutions. I have the trust and support of a strong cross-section of communities on Gambier Island, and I'm committed to stepping forward to represent them.
What experience and skills would you bring?
I bring years of experience engaging the communities in this Local Trust Area. I'm a leader, relationship builder, communicator, convener and project manager who is good at bringing people together and getting things done from the ground up. I've worked with all levels of government in the Howe Sound region, with First Nations, stewardship groups and boards, across both corporate and non-profit settings. I know how to succeed on a limited budget and how to build engagement in from the start.
Managing the Gambier Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program (REDIP) was a multi-year, multi-phase project. I managed a committee, a board, several outside partners and community members from across the island to design and deliver engagement in many formats. That engagement then informed how the grant money was distributed to community-led initiatives. I will do just this as Trustee.
Aren't you too young to be a Trustee?
Youth is an asset, not a liability. Forward-looking organizations are bringing young people on board to be both representative and innovative. Whatever your age, you have experience and skills that can benefit the Islands Trust.
My career is in its early stages, but I've already served effectively in leadership and influencing roles on Gambier Island and across Howe Sound that are directly relevant to a Local Trustee's responsibilities. I'd bring fresh perspective and diversity to the Trust.
What does the Islands Trust need to change?
I'd put it a different way: what does the Islands Trust need to do more of, and less of?
More of: representing community members within the organization, rather than representing the Trust to the communities. That means a bottom-up approach, with community engagement expanded and redesigned to have a greater impact. Before proposing blanket regulations, the Trust should research how proposals affect the different settlements and micro-ecosystems across the islands, and that research needs early, meaningful engagement in many formats. It also means honouring local knowledge and the people who steward these islands.
Less of: bureaucracy and rules-for-rules'-sake. We need rules and guidelines, of course, but they should respond to the real diversity of the islands. There's a lot of "engagement" that is really just informing people. What's needed is engagement that involves communities and shares decisions with them, not consultation on a finished draft.
What makes you think you can change things?
Change is part of thriving, and the Islands Trust will thrive when the people and the natural environment it serves thrive, and when people see it as an organization that understands and responds to their needs in a balanced way.
On the Islands Trust Council I'll have a voice like any other member. I'll make sure it's clear, well-informed and amplified by my engagement with the communities in my Local Trust Area, listening to how they experience the issues, advocating on their behalf, and exploring new ways of working within the existing system.
What would your priorities be as a Trustee?
Engage and represent everyone in the Gambier Island Local Trust Area, so their views and needs shape the decisions that affect them. That includes travelling within the Local Trust Area every year, offering more online ways to take part outside of Local Trust Committee meetings, and sending clearer communication well in advance.
Balance the important, practical uses of our land and waters with protecting the islands' biodiversity and sensitive ecosystems for future generations.
Make sure the policies and decisions of the Local Trust Committee have reasonable guardrails that protect specific fragile environments, rather than blanket policies that create barriers to quality of life for residents.
Want to meet Sam? Join a Zoom session or send a question.