70 Years of Herbicide Spraying. 0 Years of Consent.
Canada’s public forests have been chemically sprayed for 70 years to kill broadleaf regrowth, food plants, medicine plants, and wildlife habitat so industry-preferred trees can be grown.
In 1999, Canada’s own Senate said herbicide and chemical pesticide use in the boreal forest should be phased out “as soon as possible.” Only Quebec ended forest herbicide spraying in 2001.
That was 27 years ago.
Choose your province to take Provincial Action
Email your federal MP and tell them to help stop the 2026 spray season and end the unethical practice of chemical forestry.
The Glyphosate Retraction – Forest Spraying is Indefensible
For decades, governments and industry hid behind the claim that glyphosate spraying posed “no unacceptable risk.” That foundation has collapsed. In December 2025, the Williams, Kroes & Munro (2000) glyphosate “safety” review – a cornerstone of regulatory confidence for a generation – was retracted over serious ethical concerns, including Monsanto’s involvement, reliance on unpublished Monsanto studies, excluded evidence, and possible ghostwriting. That is not independent science. That is corporate influence dressed up as safety.
In March 2026, the Seattle Glyphosate Symposium brought together international experts who concluded that the evidence of harm from glyphosate-based herbicides is now so strong that no further delay in regulation can be justified. And the harms identified extend beyond cancer to endocrine, neurological, reproductive, kidney, liver, and metabolic harms, along with genetic damage, oxidative stress, and hormonal disruption.
Switching Poisons: As glyphosate becomes a scientific and political liability, the industry is not modernizing; it is simply switching toxins. In provinces like Alberta and Ontario, we are seeing a shift to chemicals like Triclopyr and Imazapyr. Whether applied aerial or ground spraying, changing the name of the chemical herbicide does not eliminate the danger to our waterways, wildlife, and communities.
This is no longer just a scientific dispute. It is an accountability crisis. 70 years of government-authorized chemical exposure in public forests cannot be brushed aside as routine forest management. The continued sign-off on these spray programs, after decades of opposition, warnings, litigation, settlements, and unresolved Indigenous rights concerns, is indefensible. Ontario banned non-essential cosmetic pesticide use in 2009 to protect families, children, pets, and communities from unnecessary chemical exposure. Yet rural families, Indigenous communities, wildlife, waterways, food and medicine plants, and public forests were left exposed.
That is not responsible forest management.
It is a choice to prioritize corporate convenience and profits over public and environmental health.
It is an ethical failure.