To: Olivier Burnham
CC: profiles@c4st.org; dan@c4st.org; wendyc@c4st.org
Subject: information on your local tower - profile for Sutton, please
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 21:07:15 -0400
Olivier, it was good to connect by phone. As I said, my name is Wendy Perkins and I am a volunteer with Canadians for Safe Technology (www.c4st.org) We are working to update Canadian safety codes, and would like to assist you in your neighborhood concerns and, in turn, have you assist us in that big mission.
With regards to the safety of radio-frequency radiation, there is growing evidence of biological harm, so much so that in 2011 the World Health Organization added radio-frequency radiation (which includes wireless) to its list of “possible human carcinogens”.
The leader of C4ST, Frank Clegg, was quoted in the Toronto Star recently. Having been the president of Microsoft Canada for 14 years, his perspective is particularly interesting, “I’ve seen the amazing things technology can do, this incredible impact it can have on people’s lives . . . I’m all for that. I just think we need to be smart about how we deploy it."
As disussed, we have a wealth of information on our website, and more assistance to offer in organizing to work towards our goal with us, and to see what the best possible outcomes might be wrt technology solutions and placement - based on our insights from similar situations across the country.
As soon as possible, please fill out the form on our site (and attached) to register your locality and you will have access to more tools. http://www.c4st.org/website-pages/item/widget-kits/cell-tower-kit.html
Our experience is that the more organized people get, the more effective the objection. We know that if a local community gets 100 emails sent using this tool, they focus full attention of the people and politicians. (perhaps fewer in smaller communities). As I mentioned earlier, once you register your site on our website, we will create and populate your own community page. Setting up your own page will enable us to provide you with flyers that are fact based, website content so you don’t have to build it, a dedicated ready email tool to contact all councilors and MP's etc. Based on experience in other disputes, our goal is for you to have 100 or more local people send email using the dedicated page. Each person will be able to pick the specifics of who the email go to and the content you wish - click on any of the existing community sites to get a feel for how this works, eg: http://www.c4st.org/cell-tower-situations/cell-tower-situations/item/situations/dragos-autobody.html
While this is by no means a guaranty of success, it is an effective approach that has worked for others - one recent example is a site in Oakville where an apartment tower backed off a Rogers proposal for antenna on the roof after residents organized. The municipality of Oakville has also posted a moratorium on further towers until there is an appropriate review and update to SC6, this has been echoed by other communities in Canada
And lastly, there is a service organization, CRINS, that works with municipalities to better site towers etc. CRINS membership operates at no cost to the municipality (by charge-back to the telecoms ) and have been effective in bringing expertise and rationale to the sites chosen. We would be happy to give you more info or put your municipality in touch directly should you direct us further.
In short:
1. Download our presentation: introduction to EMR and C4ST. http://www.c4st.org/images/documents/intro_docs/IntroductiontoC4STfinal.pdf . We have spent hours on this presentation to provide you with a short introduction to the key issues around electromagnetic radiation and radiation from cell towers specifically. We have highlighted many studies on our websites that you can reference for backup information.
2. Download our sample presentation to your MP: One of the first, critical actions is to make sure your local MP is aware of the situation and is supporting your efforts. We encourage you to ask for a meeting with your local MP when he or she is in their riding.
3. Download our sample presentation to Mayor and Council: It is also important that you have a clear, concise and rationale presentation to your local council. Although this can become a very emotional situation, it is important that you present our arguments based on facts. We have the science to support our concerns. There will most likely be town meeting concerning the proposed tower. If not, you should work with your local mayor to host a council session to review the proponent’s proposed tower location. It also may be worthwhile to have a meeting with your Mayor before the public meeting.
4. Download the sample flyer: It is important that local citizens are aware of the potential risks from a cell tower near their homes and schools and that Health Canada’s Safety Code 6 is significantly out of date and does not protect Canadians. Some groups have found it worthwhile to have a town hall meeting so that everyone can become informed.
5. Download the sample presentation to citizens: Go door to door, contact your local newspapers, hold rallies around the tower site. Anything and everything to get the word out, and the community together.
6. Download our key talking points: In many cases, the local press may want to interview you to get your perspective. As in any complicated situation, less is more. Keep your messages straightforward. Stick to the facts.
I hope to hear from you soonest, and to know you are on your way as well as helping us make a real difference in the near future.
Wendy Perkins
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