Stop the Spray Ontario - Public Forests Herbicides

https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=2125096 

Stop the Spray Ontario is a 100% volunteer based group that is fighting to protect the lands, waters, and wildlife of Northern Ontario from non-essential chemical herbicides being used by Ontario's forestry industry.  In other words, there are no admin costs, no office costs, no overhead costs - Go Fund Me will charge 2.8% for processing fees and that will leave $97 out of every $100 donated to go towards this project.

We are planning to erect highway signage across Ontario, with our first Stop the Spray Ontario sign to be installed in early May in the Timmins Area - branching out across the province during 2021 in the north and the south.  This first project will be funded through the "Save the White Moose" Go Fund Me page.

Highway sign locations cost about $150 / year and the cost of sign to print is about $2500 - $3500 depending on the size.  Signs will be installed by volunteers 100%, so any money raised will 100% be going towards a combination of 1) Facebook adds and 2) Highway signs.  If we can collect 20k, we will erect 7 highway signs !!!



Whats the issue?

Approximately 170,000 acres / year of Ontario's most pristine, virgin, public forests are sprayed annually (about the size of Algonquin Park every decade) with glyphosate based products similar to Monsanto's round up.

We are seeking an immediate halt to non-essential chemical herbicide application within Ontario's public forests given; 

(1) the wide variety of non-chemical alternatives which currently exist to effectively meet vegetation management needs…  Quebec banned the use of chemical herbicides by their forestry industry in 2001, and since such time have required forestry companies to replant earlier, with larger more mature seedlings, and manualy tend to the forests as needed with local peoples. 

(2) the inherent rights of all Canadians to safe and chemical free drinking water, wild plants, wild animals, and fish …

(3) the damages to society are not being included as “costs” when selecting the cheapest method – which would include burdens to Ontario’s publically funded heath care system, damages to ecologically pristine ecosystems, displacements / reductions in wildlife populations, and the disregard for concerns of all communities (First Nations and otherwise) living in these areas.

(4) these chemicals are being restricted and / or banned across the country (and the world), with governments citing health and environmental reasons … Google Search “Ontario Cosmetic Pesticides Ban”, “Europe and Mexico Glyphosate Ban”, Etc …

(5) the ever growing volume of successful lawsuits linking similar glyphosate products (Monsanto’s RoundUp) to cancers in humans … Google Search “Bayer 11 Billion Dollar cancer settlements” and “Monsanto Papers”

(6)  In 1999, the 35th Senate Subcommittee on the Boreal Forest published a report titled, “COMPETING REALITIES: The Boreal Forest at Risk".
 The subcommittee recommended that, “All herbicide and chemical pesticide use in the boreal forest should be phased out as soon as possible.”