Reminder: Anyone can attend these webinars, and the next one is Thursday at 10 am PT and deals with Science Behind TechSafe Schools. You must pre-register, if only at the time of the webinar.
An invitation for school officials to attend one or more of three national webinars
https://www.techsafeschools.org/webinars
(click on photo to enlarge)
Tonight ‘s update is devoted to Telus’s attempts to get federal funding to support its for-profit expansion of cell towers and 5G technology throughout BC. Currently, I am asking that you consider writing to the members of the CRD who are meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11:00am to consider Telus’s application for support of their application to get funding to put more towers on Salt Spring Island and the Gulf Islands. As per the update of Jan. 29, if appears that Telus is attempting to undercut the Connected Coast project that would provide fiber optic cable to the coastal areas and islands of BC.
You are receiving the update earlier than usual so that you might have time to write to the board members, asking them to refuse this application so that funding for safer, faster, more secure fiber optic cable might be available. Quite a few letters have been written already, and I’m providing just a small sample, plus a template, should you choose to use it.
From Update of January 29, 2021
[1) – https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/2021-01-29-will-telus-kill-connected-coast/]
“Telus has ignored these islands and communities until now when there is an opportunity for a better, safer, more reliable, more secure means of accessing internet — fiber optic cable. Telus obviously wants to kill that opportunity.
Quadra Island director concerned about Telus’ wireless plan
“Quadra Island Director Jim Abram is not a fan of the latest proposal from Telus to build cell towers on Cortes and Quadra Islands.
Abram, who has worked to improve connectivity on the island for almost 30 years, is suspicious of the company’s latest bid to bring connectivity to the islands, saying that the project has the potential to undermine the Strathcona Regional District’s Connected Coast project. That project is nearing the beginning of the construction phase, and only requires an approval from the province and funding for the “last mile” connection — the cables that bring the internet into people’s homes. However, Abram says that the Telus bid puts that in jeopardy.”
https://www.bclocalnews.com/news/quadra-island-director-concerned-about-telus-wireless-plan/
__________________________________________
Please take a few minutes to ACT Now.
5G and the Gulf Islands??
It was just brought to my attention that TELUS has asked the CRD to write a letter of support endorsing TELUS’ application to apply for federal funding to bring 5G to SSI and the other Gulf Islands.
The CRD Electoral Areas Committee has voted unanimously to approve this application. The final decision will be made by the Capitol Region District Board THIS Wednesday!
Background Info:
– TELUS is not currently talking about installing millimetre or small cell 5G, although TELUS could use any funding it gets now for that at a later date, once the millimetre wave spectrum has been released in Canada.
– In January 2021 the CRD wrote a letter to support the Connected Coast which is a project aiming to bring fiber optic cables directly to SSI and other Gulf Islands. The federal government will likely only fund one of these projects, so if the CRD also endorses TELUS, TELUS may get public funds to build more cell towers and upgrade existing macro towers to 5G, while the community-based Connected Coast which is promoting safe, fast fiber optics may be denied funding.
Please Act Now
We need to get as many folks as possible to write and email letters and we only have one day to do it!!
1. Please find a short template to copy and send below.
2. Please share widely!
3. I suggest we send this to the email addresses below and also submit via the contact form found here:
In Well-Being for all,
Oona
Subject: Please do not support TELUS’ application to the Federal Universal Broadband Fund
To: crdboard@crd.bc.ca, legserv@crd.bc.ca, ssidirector@crd.bc.ca, colin.plant@saanich.ca, rebecca.mersereau@saanich.ca, dblackwell@langford.ca, lhelps@victoria.ca, mayorscreech@viewroyal.ca, susan.brice@saanich.ca, barb.desjardins@esquimalt.ca, mayor@saanich.ca, directorjdf@crd.bc.ca, directorsgi@crd.bc.ca, bisitt@victoria.ca, jloveday@victoria.ca, mayor@colwood.ca, mayor@sidney.ca, mayor@oakbay.ca, gorr@northsaanich.ca, jranns@metchosin.ca, sandrews@langford.ca, mtait@sooke.ca,ned.taylor@saanich.ca, kwilliams@highlands.ca, ryan.windsor@csaanich.ca, gyoung@victoria.ca,
Body:
Please do not support Telus’ application to the federal Universal Broadband Fund to improve cellular service on Salt Spring and in the Gulf Islands.
I am strongly opposed to TELUS’ claim that 5G cellular service on the Gulf Islands is a replacement for fast, affordable, secure and accessible Broadband Internet. Improved mobile communication will not provide islanders with the stable, secure Internet connectivity and the symmetrical upload and download speeds we require. Fiber to the premises will.
I commend you for endorsing the Connected Coast sub-sea fiber optic project. Please note – if you also support TELUS’ application to the Universal Broadband Fund it is likely only one of these projects will be funded.
Please continue to champion the safe and speedy fiber optics islanders need, rather than assisting a large telecom in accessing public funds that will allow them to shape, control, and profit from connectivity on our islands,
Thank you!
Oona McOuat (name given with permission)
_______________________________________________
Dear CRD Chair and Board:
I am an independent science writer based here in British Columbia. I write in relation to your March 10th consideration to endorse Telus’s request to access money from Canada’s Broadband fund to facilitate the expansion of 5G services within your jurisdiction.
In 2019, I was hired by a part-time resident of Salt Spring Island to help educate the public about the dangers of so-called “5G” wireless technology to human and animal health. As part of this effort, in June and July of 2019, I organized a 7 BC city public speaking tour of Professor Martin Pall, PhD. Dr. Pall taught biochemistry and basic medical sciences at Washington State University for 30 years. Dr. Pall spoke on Salt Spring Island, in Victoria, Duncan and Nanaimo. I also mention his name to you here so that each of you and your staff might better familiarize yourselves with some of his peer-reviewed published work on the biological harms associated with long-term exposures to radio-frequency radiation, and how the deployment of 5G technology will seriously increase our risks to harm.
I also wish to draw to your attention the fact that on Feb 1, 2021, the California Green Party issued a Statement on 5G Wireless Technology, calling for Environmental Oversight.
I also wish to draw to your attention that on Jan 25 2021, the Environmental Health Trust and a number of other plaintiffs appeared in the US Appeals Court in the District of Columbia Circuit, and argued that the US FCC violated the Administrative Procedures Act and NEPA for failing to comply with the 1996 Telecommunications Act. IF the Court finds for the plaintiffs, which seems likely, this will have huge implications for the telecom industry both in the US and in Canada. One such implication will be that our existing “thermal-only” harmful effects criteria that has long been used by the telecom industry to justify safety, will likely be thrown out and will have to be replaced by new more stringent biological harms criteria. Such a court finding will inevitably have spill-over implications for Canada’s regulators as well, and will likely see the replacement of Health Canada’s long-obsolete Safety Code 6 guideline.
I wanted the CRD Board to be apprised of all of this important emergent information so that it errs on the side of abundant caution rather than on the side of dubious safety claims made by industry advocates whose motives and goals deserve far more careful scrutiny.
Sincerely,
Paul H. LeMay, Vancouver, BC (name given with permission)
_______________________________________________
From: Marcus Schluschen (name given with permission)
Sent: Tuesday, March 9, 2021 3:52 PM
To: crdboard@crd.bc.ca ; legserv@crd.bc.ca ; ssidirector@crd.bc.ca ; colin.plant@saanich.ca ; rebecca.mersereau@saanich.ca ; dblackwell@langford.ca ; lhelps@victoria.ca ; mayorscreech@viewroyal.ca ; susan.brice@saanich.ca ; barb.desjardins@esquimalt.ca ; mayor@saanich.ca ; directorjdf@crd.bc.ca ; directorsgi@crd.bc.ca ; bisitt@victoria.ca ; jloveday@victoria.ca ; mayor@colwood.ca ; mayor@sidney.ca ; mayor@oakbay.ca ; gorr@northsaanich.ca ; jranns@metchosin.ca ; sandrews@langford.ca ; mtait@sooke.ca ; ned.taylor@saanich.ca ; kwilliams@highlands.ca ; ryan.windsor@csaanich.ca ; gyoung@victoria.ca
Subject: Broadband and TELUS Wireless network
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is beyond comprehension, that during a time of crisis across Canada, when people are losing their jobs, businesses and homes, by the tens of thousands, TELUS’s lobbyist, Brian Gregg, in an audacious display of chutzpah, request from YOU, to reach out to the federal government to support corporate funding, to benefit the corporation he is representing! Let’s call it what it is, . . . corporate welfare! Is there no better use of government funding during this time of crisis, which will have serious long term repercussions, for our country?
Mr. Gregg paints a deceptively rosy picture, that all this world needs is wireless technology, and miraculously, all our problems will vanish, thanks to the benevolence of TELUS and their expanding wireless networks. No word is made, that TELUS is currently installing 5G networks across the country, which has not undergone any environmental safety assessments.
As an EMF Consultant, I am very much aware of the long term health effects, of involuntary, chronic, radiation exposure, (RF – modulated/pulsed). I am deeply opposed to TELUS’s claim, that their biologically untested, 5G cell service, is the best alternative to fast, safe and secure, wired Broadband Internet service. Fiber optic cable, connecting homes and businesses, is far superior over TELUS’s wireless network, for fast and secure Internet connectivity.
Your endorsement of the sub-sea fiber optic project is commendable, but supporting TELUS’s application for Universal Broadband Fund to provide financial support for this large corporation, will be viewed as a big mistake in the future, as our environment is increasingly biologically violated by massive, artificial radiation, produced by the telecom industry, such as TELUS.
Since most people are not aware, and since lobbyist, Brian Gregg, will refuse to share any current science information with you, what is happening internationally in the science world, regarding radiation pollution, emitted by the telecom industry, I am including some basic science information on this subject, well worth examining.
Excerpt of attached document [https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/International-Public-call-for-Protection-from-Non-ionizing-Electromagnetic-Field-EMF-Exposure-Letter-to-WHO-for-Action.pdf], recently received from Biophysicist Dr. Victor Leech, former government scientist with Radiation Protection, Australia.
To: Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO)
International Public call for Protection from Non-ionizing Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Exposure
We write as experts in bioelectromagnetics with grave concerns about the public health and environmental impacts of exponentially increasing use of wireless radiating devices relying on radiofrequencey (RF) and extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic field (EMF) throughout the world today. As the authors of more than a thousand relevant peer-reviewed publications on this topic and concerned citizens, we urge the WHO to convene an independent global Commission on wireless radiation and health, and recommend biologically-based EMF exposure limits.
The safety standards used for personal wireless devices such as smart telephones were originally formulated back in 1970’s before the advent of personal wireless devices when less than 0.1% of the civilian population lived close to RF transmitters of that period such as broadcast and TV antennas. Use of RF-radiating antennas on or close to an individual’s body came decades later with the development of the mobile telephones in 1990’s.
Today in the U.S., Australia, and much of the world, there are more phone numbers than people and over 90% of the world population is regularly exposed to unmeasured levels of RF radiation close to the body. For the first time in human history the rapidly developing brains of young children are irradiated on a regular basis for many hours a day. This exposure to RF radiation is likely to increase even further when the space-based internet from low orbit satellites is completely rolled out in the next 2-3 years. (5G)
Several important appeals, resolutions and other documents were issued in the last few years by the scientific community warning public health authorities about the necessary reduction on EMF exposure limits and its associated risks. These include the Freiburg Appeal, the Salzburg Resolution, the Catania Resolution, the Benevento Resolution, the Venice Resolution, the Porto Alegre Resolution, the Copenhagen Resolution, American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations, Seletun Scientific Statement, International EMF Scientist Appeal , 5G Appeal, 2020 Consensus Statement of UK and International Medical and Scientific Experts and Practitioners on Health Effects of Non-Ionising Radiation (NIR), as well as many other important documents.
This paper, from radiation researchers, reads like a novel of corruption of unqualified scientists, affiliated with the telecom industry.
Head of Swiss Radiation Protection Committee accused of 5G-swindle. Nordic countries deceived, too.
Blatant financial and professional motives:
These conclusions – “no harmful effects have been conclusively shown, more research is needed” – provide the entire ecom-industrial complex – the stakeholders within electronic communication systems, commercial as well as not – with maximum leeway. From enthusiastic mobile app developers and system developers, to mobile phone producers – and into the halls of the many government bodies who have been led to believe “the green shift” can be realized by streamlining society with wireless technologies. A wider berth for the ecom-industry could not possibly been provided: Only acute tissue burns or heat damage provide the ceiling, as such damages would be too visible and grotesque to be accepted. When symptoms develop slowly and have complex causes, the level and prevalence of injury is unclear, and one can always argue – and convince both oneself and others – that something entirely different from EMF exposure must be the cause.
To put the validity into perspective, consider that last December, telecom industry connected, Prof. Alexander Lerchl, of Germany, a high profile scientists, was convicted of science fraud and sentenced to a massive monetary fine, by a High Court in Bremen, Germany. The court announced that no appeal, will be tolerated.
In the US, the Federal Communication Commission – FCC, (Health Canada and ISED equivalent) is currently before a Washington court, for what amounts to science fraud. The court received over 11.000 documents, against the FCC. Two of the presiding judges asked the lawyers of the FCC: “Why should we believe anything you are telling us?”
I urge the panel dismiss TELUS’s lobbying efforts and vote against their proposal for the application to the federal government’s Universal Broadband Fund for funding to support TELUS Wireless network.
Best regards,
Marcus Schluschen
_______________________________________________
From: X (I didn’t have time to ask permission to share the name)
To: “legserv@crd.bc.ca” <legserv@crd.bc.ca>; “ssidirector@crd.bc.ca” <ssidirector@crd.bc.ca>; “colin.plant@saanich.ca” <colin.plant@saanich.ca>; “rebecca.mersereau@saanich.ca” <rebecca.mersereau@saanich.ca>; “dblackwell@langford.ca” <dblackwell@langford.ca>; “lhelps@victoria.ca” <lhelps@victoria.ca>; “mayorscreech@viewroyal.ca” <mayorscreech@viewroyal.ca>; “susan.brice@saanich.ca” <susan.brice@saanich.ca>; “barb.desjardins@esquimalt.ca” <barb.desjardins@esquimalt.ca>; “mayor@saanich.ca” <mayor@saanich.ca>; “directorjdf@crd.bc.ca” <directorjdf@crd.bc.ca>; “directorsgi@crd.bc.ca” <directorsgi@crd.bc.ca>; “bisitt@victoria.ca” <bisitt@victoria.ca>; “jloveday@victoria.ca” <jloveday@victoria.ca>; “mayor@colwood.ca” <mayor@colwood.ca>; “mayor@sidney.ca” <mayor@sidney.ca>; “mayor@oakbay.ca” <mayor@oakbay.ca>; “gorr@northsaanich.ca” <gorr@northsaanich.ca>; “jranns@metchosin.ca” <jranns@metchosin.ca>; “sandrews@langford.ca” <sandrews@langford.ca>; “mtait@sooke.ca” <mtait@sooke.ca>; “ned.taylor@saanich.ca” <ned.taylor@saanich.ca>; “kwilliams@highlands.ca” <kwilliams@highlands.ca>; “ryan.windsor@csaanich.ca” <ryan.windsor@csaanich.ca>; “gyoung@victoria.ca” <gyoung@victoria.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, March 9, 2021, 12:11:51 p.m. PST
Subject: Say NO to the health dangers posed by 5G
Dear decision makers,
You are elected or appointed to serve the best interests of your constituents, period. Rarely do the best interests of large corporations like Telus align with these best interests that you have a duty to preserve.
Hiding behind your tinfoil badges of authority, you are only too happy to make life difficult for the little guys whenever they apply for some minor variance, or zoning application for example, however as soon as the big boys demand something completely self serving from you, you are only too happy to buy their line of B.S. and fall over backwards like round heeled women, in order to accommodate them.
Apparently the Golden Rule still applies; “He who has the gold makes the rules.”
You all have a responsibility to research and become knowledgeable about the significant dangers that 5G poses to human beings and the environment, and not take Telus’s word for it, that this technology is completely benign.
The fibre optic alternative is completely adequate to supply, fast, reliable, affordable and accessible Broadband Internet.
As the American philosopher Thomas Sowell recently stated,
“In the last thirty years a great tendency has developed to replace something that has worked extremely well for decades, with something that sounds good.”
I urge you not to vote to support Telus’s application to the federal Universal Broadband Fund to fractionally improve cellular service to Salt Spring and the Gulf Islands under the pretext that the medics and Fire Dept may be able to respond 5 minutes earlier than before.
I don’t buy the hype, nor the dangers that 5G represents.
Thank you,
X
_____________________________
From: “citizensforsafertech” <citizensforsafertech@shaw.ca>
To: mayor@colwood.ca
Sent: Tuesday, March 9, 2021 3:18:30 PM
Subject: CRD meeting – Telus’s application re. federal funding for 5G
Dear Mayor Martin,
Years ago, you were a councillor when I, over many months, presented evidence that the FM and cell towers emitted microwave radiation that potentially could cause multiple and various biological effects. Colwood, in fact, led the way with the first Antenna Siting Policy and Electromagnetic Sensitivity month in Canada. In addition, Colwood was the first BC community to endorse a Smart Meter Moratorium.
Since the time that EMR Committee lapsed under Mayor Hamilton, I am guilty of doing little to inform Council about the scientific advances that have occurred and the many issues that face both the public and the telecoms, but I am hopeful that you will recall the concerns that were raised. Please know that if you or other members of Council are interested, I would be happy to provide an update about the need to halt the proliferation of EMF, especially the 5G grid.
This email is to ask for your support in declining Telus’s application that is on the CRD March 10 agenda. Telus is applying for federal funding to install more cell towers, many of which will hold 5G transmitters intended to eventually emit or support milliwave signals.
In January, CRD supported the Connected Coast project which aims to bring fiber optic cables to coastal areas and the various islands. Federal funding is being offered to communities that currently do not have adequate internet access. Telus is offering wireless access and is seeking federal funding to erect more cell towers and to add 5G transmitters to existing towers. Connected Coast is promoting safer, faster, more efficient, more secure fiber optic cable. It is likely that only one of these, Telus or Connected Communities, will be receive federal funding.
With your help, the people on SSI and the Gulf Islands will have the opportunity to have internet access that is far superior in many ways to the wireless offered by Telus.
Regards,
Sharon Noble
_____________________________
From: “citizensforsafertech” <citizensforsafertech@shaw.ca>
To: “jranns” <jranns@metchosin.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, March 9, 2021 1:38:05 PM
Subject: Telus’s application re. federal funding for 5G
Hello, John,
I know that you are aware of the Connected Communities project which has been given approval to bring fiber optic cable to coastal communities, including the Gulf Islands. Federal funding is available for those communities which suffer from inadequate or poor internet access.
Telus is applying for federal funding to install more cell towers, many of which will hold 5G transmitters intended to eventually emit or support milliwave signals.
According to the information I’ve seen, if the community has access to Telus’s wireless internet at a speed above a certain level, further funding would not be available either to the communities for independent networks or to the Connected Community project, even if people do not sign up for or want to use wireless internet.
John, you are the member of the board most informed about EMF and the scientific evidence of harm. You also know that fiber optic cable provides service that is far superior in many ways. Given your status as a long-time supporter of municipal rights and safety, I hope that the other board members will listen to your sage advice, and that Telus’s application will be refused. Let’s give Connected Communities a chance.
Thank you, and warm regards,
Sharon Noble
_____________________________
Subject: Please do not support TELUS’ application to the Federal Universal Broadband Fund.
Dear Gary Holman, the CRD Electoral Areas Committee and the Capitol Regional District Board,
Please do not support TELUS’ application to the Federal Universal Broadband Fund. TELUS’s proposed wireless and mobile project will not offer our islands the affordable, safe, secure, and energy-efficient Internet connectivity we need and deserve.
Improving cellular and wireless service by adding 5G transmitters to macro towers on Salt Spring and the Gulf Islands has nothing to do with better broadband access for all. It has plenty to do with TELUS using public funds to create proprietary cellular service and profiting from this business venture.
The 5G TELUS is proposing to install is not the much-hyped millimetre wave 5G. That spectrum has not yet been released in Canada. It is 4G-plus, coined 5G for marketing purposes. Research shows it adds little in the way of speed to users’ cellular experience. This type of 5G, which is transmitted from existing macro towers uses a tremendous amount of energy to distribute. It blankets all living things 24-7 with pulsed and modulated microwave radiation, whether you are a TELUS subscriber or not. While it will do little to increase speed, it will only improve access if more macro towers are built.
TELUS does provide genuine broadband Internet here on Salt Spring, through copper-wired phone lines. The fastest speed it currently offers its customers is 16 Mbps per second download speed, 1 Mbps upload speeds. If TELUS truly wants to improve the Internet access on our islands, they should be offering us fiber to the premises.
On that note, thank you for your January 11, 2021 letter in support of the Connected Coast. As you are well aware, that project offers our coastal communities a non-partisan and non-commercial means to affordable, universally accessible, private, safe and healthy Internet access.
Please consider that in supporting TELUS’ application to the Federal UBF, you may be facilitating a multinational corporation in accessing public funds, while preventing the Connected Coast from receiving the funding it needs, thus sabotaging a very worthy community-centered endeavour.
Mobile communication is meant for when we are mobile. It is not a viable alternative for use at home, at school or at work. Please do not be fooled by the sales letter sent by TELUS Agent Brian Gregg. The benefits they promise – tele-health, remote leaning, home-based businesses and more will best be provided though wires. Wireless and mobile communications are not a replacement for fast, secure broadband Internet.
Yours Truly,
Oona McOuat (name given with permission)
Sharon Noble, Director, Coalition to Stop Smart Meters
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead