Concerned parents protest Wi-Fi in schools

Concerned parents protest Wi-Fi in schools

WRITTEN BY PHILLIP MACIEL

THURSDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2011 13:15

Nearly 50 parents and children protested in front of the York Region District School Boardoffice Wednesday in hopes of having Wi-Fi banned in their schools.

“We parents are very concerned. We don’t want our children in a learning environment where they’re being radiated everyday,” Christine Marrin, a parent, activist and former teacher with the board, told thedailyplanet.com.

Close to 40 parents protested in Aurora, Ont. and almost 10 children were pulled out of classes to protest alongside them. The protest happened from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

“A Wi-Fi router emits the same radio-frequency as a microwave … and there have been no studies on children to tell us this is safe,” said Marrin.

Parents in the York Region area fear Wi-Fi's effects on their children, but Health Canada says the threats are simply not real.

Health Canada, however, ensures that Wi-Fi in schools poses no risk to anyone exposed.

Health Canada's website explains that, “there is no convincing scientific evidence that emissions from [Wi-Fi] are dangerous to schoolchildren or to Canadians in general.”

Yet Marrin remains unconvinced by Health Canada’s position.

“There hasn’t been a generation of students who have been in this kind of learning environment, and so it’s just a mystery to us how Health Canada ensures us that it’s safe,” Marrin said.

The York Region District School Board issued a release after testing in a “sample of areas” for radio frequencies and microwave electromagnetic field levels associated with Wi-Fi.

“All the observed levels are far below exposure limits currently established or proposed by major international or national agencies,” said the release.

Marrin said that her ultimate goal is to have Wi-Fi removed from the schools, and to have the computers hard-wired instead.

“I understand that technology strengthens classroom instruction. I am very much pro-technology,” she said. “I’m just taking issue with the way the board is choosing to deliver Internet access.”

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