A resident in a rural area of northeast London warns of escalating copper thefts along Killaly Road, following a recent federal report labeling the issue a public safety threat.
Matthew Beingessner examined the latest suspected theft, where thieves severed a utility pole supporting copper lines for internet and phone services. “Looks like copper thieves. On this occasion they have actually cut down the pole that supports all the copper lines for the internet and the phones and whatnot,” Beingessner explained. The incident occurred early Thursday and marks the third in two weeks.
Bell technicians repeatedly repair the damage, though frustration mounts. “I give a shout out to the wonderful Bell techs that have been running here and fixing things every time it happens. They’re great, but they’re frustrated,” Beingessner noted.
Visible Signs of Tampering Along Killaly Road
East of Highbury Avenue, damaged utility equipment abounds. Severed wires dangle from poles with exposed interiors, and thick cables lie shredded in multiple spots. At one site, wire cutters lay abandoned on the ground.
“Everything to the east side here is completely interrupted, so there’s no internet, there’s no Fibe, there’s no landlines, there’s no fax machines,” Beingessner said. “And a lot of cases, when there’s a house removed from an entrance gate the access cannot be granted to people visiting, packages and whatnot, because of access through a landline.”
Senate Report Urges Action on Rising Copper Thefts
A new Senate of Canada report, Stolen Signal: The Costly Consequences of Copper Theft in Canada, highlights the crisis. Released this week, it warns of urgent risks from telecom outages, including loss of phone, internet, and 911 access.
Senator Paula Simons explained the committee’s focus: “It’s a little outside the box for the senate’s transport and communications committee to look at a criminal law issue. But because copper wire theft has such a devastating impact on communications infrastructure across the country, we wanted to take a moment to see what we could do to bring an understanding of why this was such a problem and what could be done about it.”
The telecommunications sector reports a 200 percent surge in theft and vandalism from 2022 to 2024, posing dangers to public safety and lives. The report issues three key recommendations to combat the problem.
Beingessner hopes local accounts draw broader notice. “What do we do? We post cameras and live in a police state. I don’t know. We’ve done our part. We’ve reached out, we’ve reported to London Police, who’ve also said that Bell reports every time that there’s an issue as well,” he said.
