1) Rogers and ISED are colluding to erect a new cell tower on Salt Spring Island despite serious breaches of protocol. The citizens are not accepting this treatment. Below, in Letters, is a plea to Prime Minister Trudeau and the Minister of Industry to “walk the talk”, for the sake of all Canadians. Rogers must be held to account for being such a deceitful corporate body.
This is not the first time Rogers has been far less than honest in its efforts to erect cell towers and I doubt it will be the last. And, unfortunately, ISED is fulfilling its mandate — to help corporations grow more profitable. Who is working to help those on Salt Spring and the rest of us?
2) A newsletter from Safe Tech International has a lot of articles that I’ve shared in previous updates, but there are several very interesting new ones such as this one:
(click on photos to enlarge)
‘Here it is better not to be born’: Cobalt mining for Big Tech is driving child labor, deaths in the Congo
“The miners are the first step in the race for precious metals and minerals by some of the world’s most powerful companies, with multibillion-dollar valuations and whose founders and CEOs are household names.
If you own a smartphone, tablet, laptop, e-scooter, electric vehicle (or all of the above), then it is a system in which you are unwittingly complicit.“
3) EMF Effects on Consciousness, EHS Animated Film, Blogs, Updates, Actions and Resources
4) From Dr. Joel Moskowitz:
37 New Papers on Electromagnetic Fields and Biology or Health
Electromagnetic Radiation Safety
April 3, 2023
I have been circulating abstracts of newly-published scientific papers on radio frequency and other non-ionizing electromagnetic fields (EMF) monthly since 2016. The complete collection of these papers contains more than 1,900 abstracts and links to more than 2,000 papers. Several hundred EMF scientists around the world receive these updates.
To see abstracts for the most recent papers or to download volumes 1 and/or 2 of this collection go to:
https://www.saferemr.com/2022/06/recent-research-on-wireless-radiation.html
Letters:
What is occurring here on Salt Spring Island is a travesty. This community is doing everything it can to expose the false assertions made by Rogers to obtain a concurrence decision. And then once the land use authority discovered the deceit and rescinded the concurrence, the complicity of ISED to enable Rogers to proceed with their plans.
We appreciate anything you can do to assist us in our effort to stop Rogers from trampling our rights, our peace and serenity, and our beautiful island. Please share the letter below with any media contacts you might have that would possibly find this story to be newsworthy.
Thank you and kind regards,
Julian Clark
= = =
From: Julian Clark <jkgclark@gmail.com> [personal info given with permission]
Sent: Sunday, April 2, 2023 9:22 PM
To: justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca
Cc: pierre.poilievre@parl.gc.ca; Jagmeet.Singh@parl.gc.ca; Yves-Francois.Blanchet@parl.gc.ca; elizabeth.may@parl.gc.ca; francois-philippe.champagne@parl.gc.ca; tony.staffieri@rci.rogers.ca; ‘Timothy Peterson‘ <tpeterson@islandstrust.bc.ca>; jharris@islandstrust.bc.ca; ‘Laura Patrick‘ <lpatrick@islandstrust.bc.ca>; ssiinfo@islandstrust.bc.ca; newsroom@globeandmail.com; city@thestar.ca; rroberts@postmedia.com; hmunro@postmedia.com; dobee@timescolonist.com; news@gulfislandsdriftwood.com; cbcnewsvancouver@cbc.ca; gopublic@cbc.ca; news@ctv.ca; newstips@globaltv.ca; tips@cheknews.ca
Subject: Industry Minister’s Words Ring Hollow
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau,
When your government announced the approval of the Rogers takeover of Shaw Communications last Friday, Industry Minister Champagne attempted to comfort critics of the deal with stern words for Rogers and the telecommunications industry as a whole. Minister Champagne vowed to “be like a hawk on behalf of Canadians” to ensure compliance with conditions of the deal; and, with regards to enforcement, Minister Champagne said he “would not mess with the regulator”.
Ironically, on the same day, Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED – the federal regulator for cell tower siting under the responsibility of Minister Champagne) advised officials from our local government that even though Rogers falsified their application to construct a cell tower in the midst of our medium density residential neighbourhood, there was nothing our local government could do to stop the development.
In May 2021, Rogers applied to the Salt Spring Island (BC) Local Trust Committee (SS LTC – our land-use authority under the BC Government Islands Trust Act of 1974) to site a 40 meter cell tower in a residential area known as Channel Ridge, approximately 40 meters from the nearest home. Based on Rogers assertion that they had completed the required protocol, the SS LTC provided concurrence with the siting in September 2021. However, soon thereafter it became evident to the SS LTC that Rogers had not fulfilled the protocol as asserted. When the SS LTC reached out to ISED in October 2021, ISED advised the concurrence decision could be rescinded if inaccurate or incomplete information was provided during the application process.
Upon further investigation, the SS LTC concluded Rogers’ proposed site for the cell tower construction was not in compliance with the required protocol, and furthermore, had Rogers not falsified their application that particular site could not have been chosen. As a result, the SS LTC rescinded their concurrence decision in March 2022 and asked Rogers to suspend development activity.
In May 2022, in what has the appearance of a conflict of interest, ISED wrote to the SS LTC indicating they didn’t support the rescindment decision. This letter was not pursuant to any formal dispute being filed under the regulations (CPC 2-0-03), and hence the basis upon which it was written is questionable. Furthermore, the writer had filled a position at ISED that the Rogers executive responsible for the proposed tower siting had recently vacated.
Minister Champagne and ISED were fully briefed in July 2022 with respect to both Rogers falsifying their cell tower siting application and the appearance of a conflict of interest. The SS LTC wrote to Rogers, with copy to ISED, on numerous occasions (July 2022, November 2022, and February 2023) requesting that Rogers suspend construction of the tower at the proposed site. In their most recent communication to Rogers with copy to ISED, the SS LTC stated:
“By statements made in their application, the Proponents (Rogers and CREST) clearly knew that completion of the draft Model Protocol was required for concurrence. The Proponents (Rogers and CREST) falsely asserted they had fulfilled the protocol, provided inaccurate information, and omitted material information in their application”.
The residents of Salt Spring Island, and more specifically Channel Ridge, are not against cell towers. In fact, they and the SS LTC have suggested alternate sites on 570 hectares of bare land adjacent to Rogers’ proposed site, which has several locations of equal or greater elevation.
It’s incredibly concerning that one of Canada’s premiere public companies would falsify their application to a local land use authority when federal regulations require them to work together so that local tower siting preferences and concerns are respected. It’s worse that this supposed premiere company has not only bullied the local Channel Ridge community, but also run rough shod over the local government to avoid having to play by the rules. But the most egregious and sickening factor in this entire debacle is that the regulators, a federal department that reports to your Minister of Industry, are aiding and abetting this travesty.
For Minister Champagne to talk tough to Rogers and the telecommunications industry on compliance with regulation and hard-hitting enforcement is laughable! His absence in the farce being played out on Salt Spring Island, and ISED’s conduct in allowing Rogers to push through development of a cell tower based on a falsified application, demonstrates that Minister Champagne is not walking the talk!
The SS LTC have indicated they intend to trigger the dispute mechanism provided for under the federal antenna siting regulations. We believe this process will provide ISED and Minister Champagne with an opportunity to comprehensively review the application process inadequately followed by Rogers in 2021. And in the event they find that Rogers did falsify their application, they should immediately reverse course and demand that Rogers cease development at the proposed site. Anything less will clearly reveal that Minister Champagne’s words ring hollow!
Julian Clark
Spokesperson for the Concerned Residents of Channel Ridge
Salt Spring Island, BC
Sharon Noble, Director, Coalition to Stop Smart Meters/Citizens for Safer Tech
“Profit is sweet, even if it comes from deception.” Sophocles
Sent from my wired laptop with no wireless components. Practice Safe Tech.