{"id":76174,"date":"2025-08-12T17:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T21:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=76174"},"modified":"2025-08-12T17:35:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T21:35:18","slug":"tek-elders-to-protest-aerial-herbicide-glyphosate-spray-serpent-river-august-12th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/12\/tek-elders-to-protest-aerial-herbicide-glyphosate-spray-serpent-river-august-12th\/","title":{"rendered":"TEK Elders to protest Aerial Herbicide (Glyphosate) Spray &#8211; Serpent River, August 12th"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  id=\"_ytid_34323\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\"  data-relstop=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nP5cdCRguyw?enablejsapi=1&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&rel=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/528034898_10234461139484102_8876456564136155202_n.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-76175\" src=\"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/528034898_10234461139484102_8876456564136155202_n-300x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/528034898_10234461139484102_8876456564136155202_n-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/528034898_10234461139484102_8876456564136155202_n-600x300.jpg 600w, https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/528034898_10234461139484102_8876456564136155202_n-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/528034898_10234461139484102_8876456564136155202_n-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/528034898_10234461139484102_8876456564136155202_n.jpg 1710w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>The attack by the government of Ontario on our Anishinaabek way of life along the North Shore of the Great Lakes continues. In the latest assault, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources has given only weeks\u2019 notice of a devastating aerial herbicide spray operation taking place between August 18 and September 30 across Anishinaabek lands near Elliot Lake, Blind River and Espanola.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">The operation will douse over 4,500 hectares in a commercial formulation containing the herbicide glyphosate. Similar operations are planned across other forest management areas.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">This herbicide impacts aquatic life, and kills blueberries and other crucial foods, medicines, and tree species necessary to forest life. In response, the Traditional Ecological Knowledge Elders in the Robinson Huron Treaty Territory are taking action along Highway 17 which runs east-west along the North Shore of Lake Huron.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\"><b><a id=\"set-post-thumbnail\" class=\"thickbox\" href=\"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/wp-admin\/media-upload.php?post_id=76174&amp;type=image&amp;TB_iframe=1\" aria-describedby=\"set-post-thumbnail-desc\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-266x266 size-266x266 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-12-at-17.22.01.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 246px) 100vw, 246px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-12-at-17.22.01.png 828w, https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-12-at-17.22.01-277x300.png 277w, https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-12-at-17.22.01-554x600.png 554w, https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-12-at-17.22.01-768x831.png 768w\" alt=\"\" width=\"246\" height=\"266\" \/><\/a>The action will take place August 14th, 2025 from 10 a.m. to noon off Highway 17 near the Serpent River Trading Post.<\/b><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">The Traditional Ecological Knowledge Elders (TEK Elders) have called for this action in response to recent reporting in Soo Today July 22 by Greg McGrath-Goudie. \u201cThey don\u2019t listen,\u201d TEK Elder Joe Jones said about the Ministry\u2019s announcement. \u201cWe\u2019ve been telling them for years this spraying is affecting all our relations; it is killing our Anishinaabek way of life.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">TEK Elders began a campaign to end glyphosate-based herbicide use permitted in Ontario forestry over a decade ago. Joe Jones and other knowledge holders have observed dramatic changes in moose, deer, muskrat, and other forest life as jack pine plantations began replacing mixed forests with the help of glyphosate-based herbicide use.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">Officials quoted by McGrath-Goudie including MNR spokesperson Mike Fenn claim the herbicide is necessary to \u201ccontrol competing vegetation\u201d and that \u201cre-establishing conifer forests supports biodiversity, provides wildlife habitat, and helps meet long-term wood supply needs.\u201d Fenn claimed in the Soo Today article that glyphosate-based herbicide \u201cdoesn\u2019t build up in the environment and breaks down after it sticks to plants or soil,\u201d and that only certain areas will be subject to the project.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">Elder Caroline Recollet (Wahnapitae First Nation), spokesperson for the TEK Elders \u201cStop the Spray\u201d Campaign, rejects the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources\u2019 claims about the \u201cneed\u201d for herbicide \u201cmanagement,\u201d and reminds us that TEK Elders founder Raymond Owl refers to aerial glyphosate use as \u201craining poison from the sky.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">\u201cOntario has an obligation to respect our Treaty rights,\u201d said Elder Caroline Recollet. \u201cWhen forests are converted to plantations, all life is affected \u2013 we share these lands with all creation.\u201d<\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">Chiefs of Ontario released a statement July 31, 2025, informing the MNR that all 40 First Nations have come to consensus to reject glyphosate use in forestry across all First Nations\u2019 lands. The Chiefs of Ontario have taken up the campaign on the TEK Elders\u2019 behalf, and a number of Chiefs have been invited to join the action on August 14th.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">TEK Elders are calling on all concerned community members to stand up and reject these assaults on our forests. When discussing the context for the Highway 17 action, Elder Caroline Recollet points out this forest conversion affects us all \u2013 the Anishinaabe, settler descended, and our more than human relatives.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">The current western science does not support the MNR\u2019s claims of safety and necessity: \u201cOur friends at Safe Food Matters and other international partners have been working on a Global Glyphosate Review for the past 5 years that supports what we Anishinaabek knowledge holders have been saying since Raymond Owl first rallied us together \u2013 this entire approach of relying on herbicides in forestry harms our way of life.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">Mary Lou McDonald of Safe Food Matters also rejects the MNR\u2019s claims of safety. Safe Food Matters recently released a Forestry and Food Report in which they found the agency responsible for approving glyphosate failed to account for the frequency of use as well as the impact on forest foods for indigenous peoples and the non-human populations with whom indigenous peoples including the Anishinaabek share forested watersheds.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">Maureen Hutchinson-Parker from Ontario Stop the Spray will be joining the TEK Elders on August 14th, bringing support from this grassroots organization of concerned citizens across the province. \u201cAs a people living in these lands we all rely on healthy forests for our well-being. The MNR cannot claim this practice is either safe or necessary with the amount of evidence we have to the contrary. It is time to stop the spray!\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">Maps and project details are available to the public through the Natural Resources Information Portal.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\"><b>Information on TEK Elders at tekelders.ca<\/b><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\"><b>Information on Stop the Spray campaigns at https:\/\/stopthespraycanada.ca\/scandal\/<\/b><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The attack by the government of Ontario on our Anishinaabek way of life along the North Shore of the Great Lakes continues. In the latest assault, the Ontario Ministry of &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":76177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-district"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 12:55:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76174"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76178,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76174\/revisions\/76178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}