Dear editor,
Rogers, Canada鈥檚 largest telecom company, has made an application to build an up to 258-foot cell tower in the heart of Hornby Island.
As concerned residents, we have been asking that Rogers and the Trust respect the required legal process. They have been unwilling to do so for the past 10 months. Rogers refuses to fulfil its obligation to hold an in-person public meeting 鈥� a legal requirement. The Trust is not holding Rogers to its legal requirements.
Rogers filed an application on Aug. 17, 2022 鈥� a few weeks before Hornby passed its own model strategy for cell tower placement on Sept. 9, 2022. Obviously, Rogers wanted to take advantage of the lightweight federal protocol that was about to be replaced with a process more fitting for a tiny island protected by the Islands Trust.
It鈥檚 difficult to imagine how the Trust planners present at that Sept. 9 meeting forgot to mention that a cell tower application had just been filed a few weeks earlier. In fact, the Trust planners never alerted our Trustees about the application. It wasn鈥檛 until Nov. 14, 2022 - five months after the start of communication and three months after a formal application was filed by Rogers 鈥� that Trustee Alex Allen said they found out through a notice in the local papers鈥� just like the rest of the us.
It鈥檚 unfortunate that the community did not know about the application before the Trustee election on Oct. 15.
We were denied timely notice and most importantly a chance to debate the proposal as the election issue it would have become. The incumbents were given an unfair advantage over other candidates as a result. We were intentionally kept in the dark. This begs the question as to whether or not we had a fair election.
Our Trustees have a strong moral obligation to their constituents to challenge the Rogers鈥� applications鈥� legitimacy. The massive irregularities in the Rogers鈥� process have cast doubt on the competency and integrity of the Islands Trust organization.
Other islands in the Trust as well as Vancouver Island communities are watching closely.
Helen Grond, Hornby Island
