• I have a federal research grant to carry out legal ethnographic work in Israel over the course of this, my first sabbatical break over the last seven years and the only sabbatical leave I’ll be getting for the next seven years. The last four months were supposed to have been dedicated to the assiduous labor of that research. In dealing with the debacle with your corporation, I have been robbed of the time and equanimity required to carry out this year’s research and to honor my commitment to produce another scholarly work. That time is irretrievably lost to me.

• As you know, Harry is a science and technology journalist. He has written articles for journals such as Scientific American, has published pieces in the Globe and Mail, and has produced and directed documentaries for Discovery Channel and radio segments for the CBC. Harry, like me, has spent hundreds of hours attempting to resolve this dispute with Rogers Wireless – at the expense of devoting himself single mindedly to his craft.

Although you have invited us to give you some sense of the costs that we have incurred as a result of this debacle, Harry would like to make it clear that he does not, himself, want to recover any of those costs from you. What he would like, however, (in keeping with the expertise and resources that both of us brought to bear on this dispute) is that you dedicate a scholarship at Osgoode Hall Law School, seeded with the monetary value of his losses. He would be gratified if the scholarship were structured to recognize the intimate relationship between the professions of law and journalism.

 

Beyond that, both Harry and I would like to donate a half of the remaining total costs associated with this ordeal to a charity devoted to helping children with learning disabilities. We were wondering whether you would like to match this donation.

 

It is a comfort to know that, perhaps less like your competitors, there is a real human being at helm of Rogers Inc; one who has been gracious enough to contact us in person about our ordeal. And I am grateful for your willingness to understand what this debacle has put us through in order to effect changes for the better.

 

We, too, are taking a break from the stresses of our regular lives and are looking forward to a peaceful and recuperative holiday. We look forward to hearing from you, as arranged, in the New Year. Please accept our warm wishes for the holiday season.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Susan G. Drummond                                              Harry Gefen

 

P.S.: I think you should know that I am getting requests from people who want to have access to the court files relating to this dispute. Your lawyers included my personal data identifiers into the court record, which leaves that information open to the public at large. I really would appreciate it if that private information could be simply redacted from the record.