Wendy walks through Oakville
Hoy’s walk for cell radiation tours town
Wendy walks through Oakville. Wendy Hoy, walking to Ottawa from her Port Frank home to protest cellular towers, stopped in at Oakville MP Terence Young’s offices with C4ST (Citizens for Safe Technology) last Thursday. Front row, from left, Judy Watt, Wendy Hoy and Terence Young. Back row, from left, Wendy Perkins, Wendy Cockburn, Frank Clegg and Barb Payn. Photo by Ian Holroyd
The road to Ottawa has been cold and arduous for a 57-year-old grandmother who is walking to the nation’s Capitol to protest cell phone towers and their possible affects on Canadians.
However, last Thursday Wendy Hoy, who had been traveling from her home in Port Franks, Ontario for the past two weeks, met with a warm welcome in Oakville, where residents have been debating the possible affects of cellular tower radiation.
Hoy feels that electromagnetic radiation generated by wireless technologies is harmful to people and hopes that her walk will bring this issue the forefront on Parliament Hill.
“This radiation needs to be investigated,” said Hoy, “and we need to put a moratorium, if we can, on the growth of it so we can have the time to investigate it.”
Hoy also said that she would also like to see legislation that would lower acceptable levels of radiation, especially in residential areas.
Hoy toured several sites in Oakville where residents have shown concern over cell phone equipment and its proximity to sensitive locations.
She visited a cell tower at Bronte Road and Rebecca Street, which is close to a Fire Station and a nursery school, and a cell installation on Balsam Drive that is approximately 15 meters from a child’s bedroom window.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and International Agency for Research on Cancer (IRAC) classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic (cancer causing) to humans. However, WHO has indicated that more research is required.
Hoy left home last month vowing to walk the 800 km to Ottawa after a cell tower was erected in her town despite a public outcry opposing the tower.
Hoy, who is self-employed, is risking a lot for this crusade including her livelihood. In her words, she has “taken an unpaid leave of absence.”
“I’m really concerned about my granddaughter and my son. They both use this technology quite a bit,” said Hoy.
Hoy along with her friends from C4ST (Citizens for Safe Technology) a local lobby group, met with Oakville MP Terence Young at his offices at 165 Cross Avenue
Young offered his support to Hoy’s cause and told his visitors that he is planning to introduce a Private Member’s Bill that will address cell tower radiation.
Young said that he has not finalized the bill yet but he is considering three different approaches that the bill could take. The options include limiting the amount of power that cellular antennae can have, limiting the distance of cell towers from homes, schools, and hospitals or passing the power to decide where cell towers can go to municipalities.
Currently, cell tower placement is governed by Industry Canada.
“Why would we allow a bureaucrat in Ottawa to overrule the government that is democratically elected to plan our communities and execute that plan?” asked Young.
“I’m trying to determine right now what is the best way to go so we don’t have powerful cellular towers so close to homes, schools, daycare centres and hospitals,” Young added.
Young said that Oakville has become ground zero in the debate over electromagnetic radiation because three telephone companies have already built towers here and three more companies are hoping to move in.
“This is truly a grassroots movement,” said Young, pointing to Hoy and her journey to Ottawa. “This is coming from people who want to feel safe in their homes, which I believe is a fundamental right,” said Young. “And when they have these high-powered antennae close to their homes, they don’t. That automatically makes it a priority for me.”
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