Bell says 350 metres of copper cable stolen in Gatineau, Que., disrupting service

Cable wiring. Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg

Bell infrastructure in the Gatineau, Que. area has been targeted by vandals on four occasions in recent weeks, disrupting phone and internet service to customers.

Bell says approximately 350 metres of copper cable was stolen over the weekend, which affected approximately 6,000 customers.

“Copper theft is a serious issue affecting telecommunications infrastructure across the country,” Bell said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa.

“These acts of vandalism can lead to large-scale service disruption, which can take several hours to resolve as extensive splicing work is required to reconnect the infrastructure.”

Bell says it is working to implement “additional measures to strengthen network security and reduce the frequency of these types of incidents.”

“We understand this is frustrating for our impacted customers and we apologize for the inconvenience,” Bell said.

Repeated copper thefts disrupting telecommunications service in Gatineau have had a significant impact on one local pharmacy, its owner says.

Aly Kamel, founder and owner of PharmaGora in Gatineau’s AGORA mixed business and residential development, says his pharmacy has lost phone and internet service four times since December due to stolen copper cables.

“And the impact is major because all businesses now depend on the internet,” says Kamel. “This is how we receive prescriptions, and we need access to patient information such as bloodwork results.”

Kamel says the outages forced staff to revert to paper records while continuing to serve patients, including those with scheduled vaccination appointments, adding pharmacists rely on online systems to safely process prescriptions, particularly in complex cases.

“One of the things we do, every time we get a prescription, we have to run an analysis of the drug interaction,” he says. “Without internet access, that process becomes much more difficult. I’m thankful to my staff who provided extra help during the outages, and grateful to our patients for their patience and understanding.”

Kamel says the repeated service disruptions can have serious consequences for patients who depend on timely access to medications and care.

“People [thieves] who do this have no idea which kind of clientele are going to be touched,” he says. “You could have a great impact on someone’s life.”

The telecommunications company said repairs to the infrastructure had been completed and service restored.

CTV News is a division of Bell Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bell Canada

Copper theft in eastern Ontario

Ontario Provincial Police say officers are investigating “recent thefts or attempted thefts” of copper wire between Smiths Falls and Merrickville.

“The most recent incident was at a facility at 1183 County Road 43. It happened shortly before midnight on Sunday, January 11,” the OPP said on X.

“Communication wires were cut, and a pole was damaged. The culprit would have been using a ladder to access the wires.”

Police say it’s the third incident in the Smiths Falls and Merrickville area since Jan. 1.

“Please call police if you see any suspicious activity in any areas where there may be significant quantities of copper wire, including electrical and communication facilities,” the OPP said.

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Tyler Fleming