Important Message from the CJAI Board of Directors

June 25, 2026

Amherst Island Radio Community,

This is not a letter anyone on this board wanted to write. We are a group of volunteers who believed in this station, in this community, and in each other. We still do. But we have reached a point where we can no longer stay silent and we can no longer continue.

First, we want to acknowledge what this has cost us personally. In recent weeks one board member suffered a serious health episode directly related to the stress of this situation. Another stepped down for health reasons. Our President has been navigating this crisis while grieving the loss of his mother. Another board member has been subjected to relentless, personal emails despite working tirelessly to protect this station and its programs. We are human beings. We are volunteers. And we have been treated in ways that no person, in any context, should have to endure.

We have stayed silent on many details out of respect for privacy, including the privacy of our former Station Manager. That silence has been used against us. It has been interpreted as guilt, as incompetence, and as evidence of wrongdoing. We have watched misinformation spread unchallenged while we absorbed the attacks because we believed it was the right thing to do. We believe in reviewing things thoroughly before drawing conclusions and certainly before making accusations. We no longer believe our silence is serving anyone.

Second, we would like to take this opportunity to address some of the ongoing comments and concerns that have been raised, primarily through the station's Facebook Messenger chat. We would like to begin by addressing a comment made by Eric on June 22nd:

“We need ethical people on the Board who have the best interest of CJAI as their priority.”

To suggest that this Board is unethical is not only offensive and slanderous, but also simply untrue. This is a board that has always acted with the best interests of CJAI at the forefront of every decision. Our integrity, ethics, and commitment to this station are beyond reproach. Our former Station Manager appointed 8 of the 11 sitting board members, including myself, at the time of his resignation, and knows firsthand the character and dedication this board brings to this station. We have continued to work diligently to represent the interests of all our members, volunteers, listeners, and advertising partners to the very best of our abilities. That commitment never changed.

So let us be clear about why this board made the decisions it made.

The board was providing responsible governance over an organization that had grown significantly and where the need for oversight, accountability and transparency had grown with it. That is not bullying. That is governance. When we sought to implement appropriate oversight we were met with resistance and refusal.

With respect to Charity Radio Bingo, which this community rightly values, there has been a great deal of misinformation circulating. To be clear, the board did not cancel Charity Radio Bingo. We made the difficult decision to temporarily pause it while concerns regarding historical Bingo operations and compliance with our lottery licence were reviewed, and we have been working with Loyalist Township and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario to correct the areas that require improvement so that Bingo can resume in full compliance. Separately, and as part of why the board was seeking greater oversight in the first place, we have become aware of financial irregularities connected to the program, and we are addressing it appropriately. Our goal throughout has been to bring Charity Radio Bingo back as quickly as possible in a way that protects both the station and the charitable organizations that benefit from it.

The board unanimously, with the exception of the two members who chose to step down in support of the former Station Manager, agreed that the station was at risk and that these matters could not continue. We made governance decisions accordingly. We stand by every one of them.

We have carried all of this while being called bullies and unethical. While being harassed with incessant emails. We have done so without complaint and without retaliation because we believed in the process and in this community.

But this community has a choice to make. If the intimidation and pressure of recent weeks reflects the kind of governance this membership wants, then we are not the right board to provide it. We will not govern under threat. We believe in the station having integrity and being in a state of good financial health, but we are not prepared to continue in the face of this bullying and harassment based on misinformation and one side of a story.

Therefore, with enormous sadness and great love for this station and this community, the undersigned members of the Board of Directors of Amherst Island Radio are tendering their resignations effective July 13, 2026 at the conclusion of the meeting.

Until that date, the date of the special meeting at which a new board can be voted on, this board will continue to govern to the best of its abilities. We will work in good faith with incoming board members to ensure a smooth transition. We ask that any communications with the outgoing board be respectful and that communications are limited only to the extent necessary for the station over this transition period.

With respect to the upcoming meeting on July 13, 2026 given these circumstances, the board wishes to provide an official update regarding the proposed motions and process:

• The only relevant agenda item to be considered at the July 13 meeting will be: “1. Election of new Directors to any currently vacant positions on the Board of Directors”;
• All positions will be vacant and no quorum of directors are available to fill vacancies. Therefore, the members should nominate candidates for the vacant positions and fill the vacancies at the meeting. Note that a minimum of 7 and a maximum of 11 board positions will be required to be filled; and
• To facilitate this process any members eligible to participate may email secretary@cjai.ca with any director nominations. We will circulate any nominations received on July 6, 2026. Following that date, any further nominations could be made by members participating from the floor at the meeting.
• Details of the proxy process can be found here.
• To confirm your membership please visit here.
• Answers to frequently asked questions can be found here.

As you prepare to cast your vote for the next board, we ask you to set emotion aside for a moment and ask yourselves, critically, what leadership this station truly needs. And to consider that the difficult decisions this board made were not made lightly, but for good reason.

To the volunteers who stayed, who showed up, who kept the faith through all of this: we are eternally grateful. You deserved better than this situation.

To this community: we hope you get the station you deserve. We believed in it with everything we had.

With love for the station born in a barn,

Colin, Sue, Leah, David, Trish, Helen, Ang

Board of Directors, Amherst Island Radio (CJAI)