Telus response regarding herbicide use on Gabriola

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TELUS  
10020 - 100 Street NW  
Edmonton, Alberta  
Canada T5J 0N5  
  
telus.com  
  
780 819 9372 Telephone  
brian.daniel@telus.com  
  
  
  
  
  
October 13, 2022  
 
VIA EMAIL  
Dan Rogers  
Chair, Gabriola Island Local Trust Committee  
700 North Road 
Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X3  
 
  
Dear Mr. Rogers:   
  
Further to our telephone conversation on September 22, 2022, this letter provides a formal 
response to your letter dated August 23, 2022 regarding the use of herbicide on Gabriola Island.     
 
For background, TELUS’ herbicide use is managed under our Integrated Pest Management Plan 
(IPMP), a provincially regulated document which describes all our vegetation management 
practices within BC.  Our vegetation management consultant conducts regular audits of TELUS 
sites to ensure we meeting regulatory requirements and the practices documented in our IPMP.  
Vegetation management is critical to ensuring TELUS maintains the integrity of our 
communication networks.  Vegetation growth creates a significant fire hazard around our facilities, 
and excessive growth can damage sensitive equipment.   
 
This particular issue was first brought to TELUS’ attention in June 2022, when operators of the 
Fiddlehead Spring contacted our vegetation management consultant to express concerns about 
the use of herbicides and the proximity to the spring collection well.  Our consultant conducted a 
review of the vegetation management at the site and the evidence collected indicated that the 
herbicide application was in compliance however based on concerns from the community we 
made the decision to stop using herbicides.  To confirm, going forward TELUS will only be utilizing 
mechanical (mowing/cutting) or natural vegetation control methods on Gabriola Island and have 
already informed our vegetation management contractors of the new requirements.   
 
In addition, and in light of the concerns from the Island Trust, we have engaged our vegetation 
management consultant to complete an assessment of all TELUS’ vegetation management 
activities on the Gulf Islands, with the goal to discontinue the use of herbicides. 
 
  

With respect to the request for water testing, TELUS’ environmental consultant is available to 
conduct this work at your request.  Please contact the undersigned to  coordinate this work.   
 
TELUS is committed minimizing the environmental impacts of our operations and we work closely 
with customers and communities to ensure we are meeting those commitments.  Further 
information regarding or overall commitment to sustainability can be found in our publically 
available Sustainability and ESG Report. 
 
We trust the information provided meets your current needs.  Please reach out to the undersigned 
if you would like to discuss in more detail.  
 
 
Sincerely,  
  
  
  
 
Brian Daniel 
Manager, Environment  
TELUS

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