So it seems, at long last, Joan Margaret Blackwell has become Joan Margaret Strathearn and has been laying low, flying under the radar and avoiding paying restitution to those whose lives she has destroyed. There is no evidence that she has resumed her criminal behaviour but her past transgressions, and lack of effort to make any attempts to pay back her victims has made her a target of our victim's coalition. We've been looking for her for a very long time.
What positions of trust and responsibility does she hold in your community? What access to her favourite demographic does she enjoy as the wife of a councillor?
Now that we have found her, our efforts to recover the $1.8+ million dollars for those victims still alive will begin anew. We've also located Jenkinson.
You have a wolf in sheep's clothing living quietly among you. Be warned. The victims and our families can only hope that none of you have been caught up in her web of deceit, manipulation and fraud. While she will argue that she has paid her debt to society with time in prison, her debt to the many victims remains outstanding.
How did we come to this conclusion and how did we find her? We have provided almost all of the evidence we have on our blog over time and tips have come in. Thank you. We can only hope that as we pursue our losses and those of the victims and their remaining families, that nobody in the Midland community has fallen prey. We can only wonder what lies and pretence a seasoned con like her has been weaving and what part in this her husband may be playing in sheltering her from he past and outstanding debts, hidden away from the many victims whose lives are still affected after all these years.
Dec 7th 2003 - Susanne Baillie - ProfitGuide
Lotek Wireless Inc., Newmarket, Ont.
Jim Lotimer knows the first rule of exporting, and he can express it as succinctly as anyone: “Know what the market wants in a product, and focus on developing it.” But it’s knowing how to execute that simple mantra that separates Lotimer’s company — Lotek Wireless Inc. — from the rest of the global pack.
Headquartered in Newmarket, Ont. with offices in St. John’s, Nfld., Lotek designs and manufactures “biotelemetry systems” — scientist speak for stuff like radio tags and satellite linked collars that might be used to track the passage of salmon around hydroelectric dams or an elephant across an African savannah. “Understanding biology and the ecology of the world will lead to many of the answers of sustainable and renewable resource utilization,” says Lotimer, president and CEO. In a global environmental market worth $500 billion last year, he notes, “We hold one market key.”
Lotek generated revenue of $21 million last year, with 90% of those sales going to 38 foreign markets. Much of its strength comes from ad hoc partnerships with scientists on leading edge research projects around the globe, some of which last for years. The scientists tell Lotek what they want to study and how, and Lotek builds the tool for the job. When the study results are published in scientific journals, Lotek gains credibility and demand for the product behind the data. “It’s a symbiotic relationship,” says Lotimer, “that results in products that the world wants.”
A bigger challenge is installing and supporting its instruments in extreme environments halfway around the world. “We send engineers, research biologists, oceanographers and other scientists all over the world,” says Lotimer. The effort is aided by employing a large pool of highly skilled workers. In fact, more than half of Lotek’s 130 staff hold graduate or postgraduate science degrees.
Because serving the world costs money, Lotek keeps a few financing tricks up its sleeve. For instance, Lotek insures overseas receivables through Export Development Corp. While the insurance offers peace of mind if a Lotek client defaults (which has never happened), it also helps the firm access additional working capital that can be used to tap new markets. “With the insurance, our receivables are a far more desirable security,” says Joan Blackwell, Lotek’s business relationship manager. “The bank will usually give you 90% leverage on those receivables.”
Going forward, says Lotimer, Lotek will “continue to develop good business practices and the best technologies and products in the world.” If it can do that, Lotek’s future will be bright. “An industry like ours,” says Lotimer, “which brings advanced technology to the study of environmental issues, is going to grow for a long, long time.”
Lotek Wireless was co-founded by Stuart Strathearn, now a Councillor in Midland, Ontario who's reported to have met and married the "love of his life". Joan Margaret Strathearn (Blackwell) Sept 23rd 1953...
In an article in Metroland's Midland Mirror (http://www.simcoe.com/news-story/4894533-stewart-strathearn-ward-3-midland/) he is quote as saying:
"I studied predators for 10 years as a research biologist. In 1984 I co-founded Lotek Wireless Inc. to create and sell monitoring systems for fish and wildlife. As V.P. Business Development I worked in different countries and cultures to make Lotek a world leader, present in five countries and with worldwide sales. I returned to Midland with Joan in 1998, co-founded Midlandcommunity.ca, and was on the Parks and Recreation Master Plan and Active Transport Committees. I am strongly committed to family and community."