I know Gambier. I listen. I act.

Too often, people find out what the Local Trust Committee is deciding after the fact. I want to change that.

Before each meeting, I'll share the agenda in plain language and well in advance, so you have time to read it, ask questions and weigh in. I'll also push for more online ways to take part outside of meetings, so people who can't make it still have a real say.

My goal is that your views shape a decision before it's made, not after a draft is finished.

Gambier is made up of many different settlements, and each has its own needs and its own way of living on the land and water. You can't understand that from a meeting room.

I'll travel within the Local Trust Area every year, spend time in every community during my term, and listen. What I hear goes with me to the Local Trust Committee and the Islands Trust Council, so your voice is in the room when decisions are made.

Government language keeps people out of decisions about their own homes and neighbourhoods. I'll explain what a proposal means in everyday words: what it would change, who it affects, and why it's being suggested.

I'll also ask the Islands Trust to do its homework before proposing rules, by researching how a regulation affects different settlements and ecosystems on the islands rather than applying one rule everywhere.

Real engagement means listening and sharing decisions. It doesn't mean asking for comments on a finished document.

I've designed community engagement before. With REDIP, what we heard from people across the island shaped how the grant money was spent. As Trustee, I'll build engagement in from the start, use different platforms and formats so more people can take part, and stay open with you the whole way.

I care about protecting Gambier's sensitive ecosystems, and I care about the people who live and work here. Those aren't opposites.

I'll push for reasonable guardrails that protect specific fragile places, based on current science that community members can see, rather than blanket policies that make everyday island life harder without protecting more.