Since Aug. 2014, a group of First Nations elders have been waging a battle with the federal and provincial governments to stop the aerial spraying of herbicides on area forests.
Calling themselves the TEK Elders (for Traditional Ecological Knowledge), the group wants aerial herbicide spraying to stop across the Robinson Huron Treaty territory. Signed in 1850, the Robinson Huron treaty covers 92,000 square kilometres from Sault Ste. Marie to Kirkland Lake and down to North Bay, including Sudbury.
Nearly two dozen First Nations are signatories to the treaty.
Since forming in 2014, the group has been writing letters, holding highway demonstrations and protesting at Queen’s Park and in Ottawa.
Frustrated with what they say is a lack of action, TEK Elders sent out a registered letter to both the federal and provincial governments on July 23 demanding an end to spraying.
“We are writing to demand, both in good faith but in the clearest terms possible, that any MNRF approved aerial herbicide spray project, planned to commence throughout or in any portion of the Robinson Huron Treaty territory in 2017, be immediately cancelled and stopped,” the letter states in part.
Calling for an “irrevocable ban” on the use of all herbicides like glysophate in forest management, roadside maintenance, vegetation control within the Robinson Huron Treaty Territory, the elders argue on their website) that herbicides and pesticides have “serious known impacts” on human life, wildlife, water and plants.
Forest companies use herbicides to control the growth of non-commercial plants in their forest management areas and Hydro One uses the chemicals to limit growth along hydro lines.
The TEK position has been supported by the Grand Council Assembly of the Robinson Huron Treaty chiefs and the Chiefs of Ontario, who called the spraying “the destruction” of lands and waters.
“It has always been the responsibility of the Elders to teach about our sacred responsibility to Mother Earth and to protect the lands, the waters, the medicines, the animals and the food for our future generations,” TEK elder Raymond Owl said in the news release.
