Our island. Our future.

Hornby Island. Our home. Our say.

Bring local choices home. Ask BC to study a town with a council we elect. Show the costs. Let residents weigh the plan.

Read and sign the study request
An illustration of island life

At a glance

A signature starts a request.

  1. 01

    Ask BC

    Sign the request for a town study.

  2. 02

    Test the plan

    A study should set out costs, services and choices.

  3. 03

    Let people decide

    A later vote is a separate step if the plan goes ahead.

A signature asks for a study. It does not approve a town or cast a later vote.

Sources for this guide

Hornby Island. Our home. Our say.

A council we elect. A voice that counts. A future we help shape.

Ask BC to start the study for Hornby Island to become a town.

Start the town study. Add your name.

Signing asks for a study. Any later vote on becoming a town is a separate step.

Private project. The petition is open. Read the public records and ask BC to study a town for Hornby Island. We want a council we elect. This private campaign does not speak for the whole island.

The exact petition

We, the undersigned, call on the Province of British Columbia to study incorporating Hornby 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.

Petition text version 2. Read the revision history.

Latest from Islands Trust

Checked

Executive approval confirmed for 176 and 177

The adopted September 23 Executive Committee minutes approve OCP amendment 176 and land-use amendment 177 (EC-2026-099/100). This confirms that approval stage. It does not by itself establish ministerial approval of the OCP amendment or final local adoption. We have not verified a later adoption record in this check.

Adopted Executive Committee minutes, September 23, page 3

Read the full update and sources →

The people who keep Hornby Island working

A job has a price.
So does the trip.

Pick a job. See its pay in four places. Then see what firms charge to make an island visit. We want more homes for workers and room for local firms.

Explore pay and work costs

516jobs to explore

4broad pay benchmarks

  1. Choose a job
  2. Compare its pay
  3. Check the trip costs

Default pay uses September 2026 dollars. Original pay is one click away. Each region and source is named.

Fair enforcement. Decisions we can see.

Our local trust committee can choose what to enforce first. It can tell staff to close a file. Staff check the facts and handle notices. Show us how those powers are used. Each island's bylaw and screening rules must be checked separately.

Who controls enforcement and adjudication →

The full case. Sources and details.

Two petitions. Two decisions.

Ask BC to study a town with a council we elect. Read the exact request above. While the Trust area exists, current law calls a new town wholly within it an island municipality. That is a rule we face. It is not a promise to keep the Trust.

The separate petition asks BC to end the Trust. A town would take on planning where there is one. Elsewhere, the regional district would do it. Sign one petition, both, or neither.

The island, on the record

1,191 parcels across 3,305 hectares, mapped and inspectable. 299 Islands Trust meetings archived since 2011.

These counts cover the land lots in our stored Hornby Island map region. We leave out water lots. The mapped area is the sum of those lots, not a fresh survey of the island’s shore.

Statistics Canada counted 1,225 residents on Hornby Island in the 2021 census. The 2016 count was 1,016. That is a change of +20.6% in five years. The 2021 census counted 1,117 private dwellings. Usual residents lived in 654. That left 41.5% without usual residents on Census Day. This is not a count of homes empty all year. The middle age in 2021 was 62.8. In that year, about 1,104 residents were adults, age 18 or over. This is an estimate. Statistics Canada does not publish that age split for this place. These figures cover Hornby Island Trust Area, the place Statistics Canada names in its table. Source: Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0012-01 — Population and dwelling counts: Canada and designated places (2021 Census).

2026 trustee election — Official winners declared

April Lewis: 396 votes (declared elected); Jeffrey Rabena: 244 votes (declared elected); Alex Allen: 186 votes; Ronaldo Cruz: 181 votes; Pat Mullan: 141 votes; George Buvyer: 49 votes. The Comox Valley Regional District labels these results official and marks the two winners elected. The Trust summary still labels its table preliminary.

Results checked on 1 November 2026 against the Trust’s October 22 confirmation release. The twelve local trust areas have confirmed elected or acclaimed trustees. Bowen’s municipal appointments remain pending until November 9. Candidate vote totals and confirmation of the winners are separate records. Trustees are scheduled to be sworn in on November 12.

Comox Valley Regional District, official election and referendum results

Public-record check · 1 November 2026

Executive approval confirmed for 176 and 177

The adopted September 23 Executive Committee minutes approve OCP amendment 176 and land-use amendment 177 (EC-2026-099/100). This confirms that approval stage. It does not by itself establish ministerial approval of the OCP amendment or final local adoption. We have not verified a later adoption record in this check.

Adopted Executive Committee minutes, September 23, page 3

The incoming Trust Council

The Trust’s October 22 release confirms the elected or acclaimed trustees for the twelve local trust areas. Bowen’s municipal appointments remain pending until November 9. Trustees are scheduled to be sworn in on November 12, with inaugural Council meetings on November 13 and 14. The current term and the incoming term are distinct.

Trustee confirmation release, October 22

Ferry funding: the federal response

In an October 27 letter to the Trust, the federal Transport Minister describes the existing coastal ferry subsidy agreement. The letter puts the 2026–27 grant to British Columbia at approximately $38.6 million and says the Province determines which ferry services receive assistance. It directs questions about fares and service costs to the Province. This is a response about existing arrangements, rather than an announcement of a new local ferry service or fare reduction.

Federal Transport Minister’s response, October 27, pages 1–2

Other local votes · checked 21 October

The CVRD reports Daniel Arbour acclaimed as Electoral Area A director and Chelsea McCannel-Keene acclaimed as School District 71 Trustee Electoral Area 4 (Area A) trustee. Its official animal-control referendum count is 853 yes and 348 no. The question sought assent to Bylaw 915, which would add animal-control services to the Denman and Hornby bylaw-enforcement service. Voter assent is a separate step from the board adopting the bylaw.

Comox Valley Regional District, official election and referendum results

This is a dated status check, not a full re-audit of every bylaw. Read the Firestarter.

Reached via two ferries beyond Denman, Hornby is an arts-and-tourism island under its own Local Trust Committee.

Latest research and writing

New reports come first. Open each piece to check its sources.

  • Five Years, $16,700, and an Unfinished Plan Published August 16, 2026
    Hornby Island's Local Trust Committee chartered a comprehensive OCP/LUB review to fix housing and short-term-rental rules, set a $16,700 two-year budget and a spring 2024 adoption target — then documented, in its own staff reports, a failed first engagement, a nearly exhausted budget, and a project still unfinished in 2026. Meanwhile, a rezoning file sat deferred for roughly three years awaiting the same unresolved planning question, and the affordable housing that did arrive on Hornby was financed and delivered by agencies outside the Trust.

Water: the groundwater under Hornby Island

BC’s records link 4 aquifers to the stored Hornby Island parcel region; the main one is linked to 732 regional land parcels, with 747 well records across the selected aquifers in full. We group records by the lots in our stored map. This is not a count of every well inside the island’s shore. BC supplies the ratings. These well totals cover each selected aquifer in full. Full water report for Hornby Island →

  • Aquifer 438 — Mt. Geoffrey, Hornby Island: Bedrock — Fractured sedimentary rock, 18.8 km², mapped 2020. Vulnerability Moderate; productivity Moderate; demand High; 499 wells on record; 7 water licences. BC factsheet
  • Aquifer 435 — Whaling Station Bay, Hornby Island: Bedrock — Fractured sedimentary rock, 3.8 km², mapped 2020. Vulnerability Moderate; productivity Low; demand High; 137 wells on record; 0 water licences. BC factsheet
  • Aquifer 436 — Shingle Spit-Phipps Point, Hornby Island: Bedrock — Fractured sedimentary rock, 5.2 km², mapped 2020. Vulnerability Moderate; productivity Low; demand High; 89 wells on record; 1 water licence. BC factsheet
  • Aquifer 437 — Ford Cove-Norman Point, Hornby Island: Bedrock — Fractured sedimentary rock, 2.2 km², mapped 2020. Vulnerability Moderate; productivity Moderate; demand Moderate; 22 wells on record; 1 water licence. BC factsheet

A High vulnerability rating means less natural cover protects the water from waste at the surface. It does not mean the water is dirty now. Source: Ground Water Aquifers — BC Data Catalogue (Open Government Licence — BC) and the Province's GWELLS registry.

Ferry tracker

Gravelly Bay via Denman (Route 22) — live sailings and vessel positions sit at the top of this page. Official schedules: www.bcferries.com/routes-fares/schedules.

Ownership and relationship

Private, personal project. Hornby Town is built and run by Tony Aly, a publisher and software builder on Denman Island. It is his private campaign. No government or local group runs or endorses it.

The linked Abolish Islands Trust campaign asks BC to change the law and end the Trust. A future island group may choose a different path.

A domain is not a local chapter.

Keep going

More for our island

01Homes and island life02Water03Building rules04Pay and work costs05Island news06Who has signed