On Saturday, August 10, 2002, our group paid a visit to Morgan Creek.    What a place! Fabulous homes, wonderful landscaping, views of the north shore mountains, their own golf course, and propane cannons booming away in the background. It was a beautiful day and the group took the opportunity to let the residents of Morgan Creek know that they are not the only ones who have to put up with this ridiculous blueberry farming practice. It is unbelievable that new developments such as Morgan Creek can be established and then left to endure the noise of propane cannons??
If you wish to read more about the protest, please visit our Morgan Creek Page.

On Saturday, July 6, 2002, our group spent the afternoon at the Abbotsford Berry Festival.    It was a beautiful day for the festival and a wonderful opportunity for our members to mingle with Abbotsford residents and spread the word about propane cannons. You never know, a propane cannon might soon be coming to a field near you!
If you wish to read more about this protest, please visit our Berry Festival Page.

On June 20, the 6:00 BCTV News Hour ran a news special about the propane cannon issue in the Fraser Valley.
Roger Clapham was interviewed and he explained the torture that so many Fraser Valley residents have to put up with because of propane cannons. The news team also interviewed a grower who claimed that it was just not possible for him to use nets, but if you drive past his property on Gladwyn Road, within a half mile of his farm you will see acres and acres of netted blueberry fields.
If you don't care about your neighbours, then you might use cannons. Responsible growers use nets, as do growers who wish to maximize crop yields.


On June 01, the group held its first Protest of 2002, the first of many!
This was a spur of the moment event as we learned only late in the week that the BC Blueberry Council's annual general meeting was being held on Saturday morning at the Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF) building. We were able to gather a good number of propane cannon victims on short notice and we met at the MAFF building with our protest signs on display. The protest went very well from our perspective. We set up our signs in such a manner that farmers had to drive past us and run the gauntlet of placard waving protestors to get to their event.

If you wish to read about our protest in detail and see some pictures of the event, have a look at our BC Blueberry Council Field Day page.



In early May, 2002, a local Abbotsford/Langley environmental group, the Coalition for Clean Air and Water donated $1200 to Ban the Cannons. Ban the Cannons greatly appreciates the donation. For more information, see our Anti-Noise Supporters page.



On April 5th, 2002 our group met with the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. John Van Dongen, and one of his staff members, Bert Van Dalfsen to express our disappointment with the proposed changes to the regulations controlling the use of "Audible Bird Scare Devices", AKA noise polluting devices such as propane cannons, AV alarms, etc.
Mr. Van Dongen once again proved to be very patient with our group, a group who have been described as "residents with attitudes", but the rules for this year are final according to the minister.

Minutes from this meeting are now available on our Minutes Page.



The first event of interest in 2002 was the Pacific Agricultural Show in Abbotsford BC. A number of our members attended this event because revisions to the regulations for "Audible Bird Scare Devices" were being presented. Audible bird scare devices is the Ministry of Agriculture's new buzz word for noise polluting bird scare devices such as propane cannons and AV alarms, etc. in case you were confused.

The session had a very impressive start, as the topic was introduced by the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. John Van Dongen. Our members who attended said that the Minister gave the impression that big changes were going to occur in the way in which these noise makers are regulated. But then the Minister's staff presented the details and reality set in. For more information about the insignificant changes made to these regulations, please read our regulations page.




And if you are following our progress and would like to comment, please send us a note. We are getting lots of hits these days on the web site and must be taking over from Oprah as a source for day time entertainment. So send us a note and tell us what you think we should do next to rid ourselves of propane cannons.

Send your creative ideas to: the cannon webmaster