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Glyphosate spraying in N.B. akin to ‘eco-genocide,’ Indigenous communities say

Cecelia Brooks of New Brunswick picking rose petals. Photo submitted by Cecelia Brooks

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As summer approaches, Indigenous communities in New Brunswick are looking ahead with frustration to another season of glyphosate spraying.

Glyphosate is a herbicide sprayed aerially in industrial forestry to suppress the growth of the deciduous plants, like hardwoods and berries, that spring up in the wake of clear-cuts and outcompete planted softwood seedlings. It is also applied along power line routes.

Proponents of glyphosate use say it is a way to maximize the output of forested land.

But Indigenous leaders in N.B., which is the unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik, Mi’kmaq and Peskotomuhkati peoples, say the practice affects the ability of their communities to harvest the land.

Wolastoq Grand Chief Spasaqsit Possesom (Ron Tremblay) says in his community of Neqotkuk (Tobique) First Nation, members used to harvest along the transmission lines.

Before #glyphosate spraying, Indigenous people in #NewBrunswick harvested food and medicine along transmission lines. “Now we can't because of the spraying," says Wolastoq Grand Chief Spasaqsit Possesom. #FoodSecurity

“And now we can't because of the spraying that NB Power is doing, and we don't dare to consume the berries and the nuts and medicines that grow [along] those power lines,” he said.

Spasaqsit Possesom says the Indigenous communities were never consulted about the spraying. “This form of forest management is like committing eco-genocide on the rest of the flora and fauna.”

Among the provinces, N.B. has the highest rate of glyphosate use in forestry, based on land mass. In 2018, for instance, glyphosate was applied to 15,723 hectares of forest in the province, mostly by helicopter. Ontario sprayed roughly double that, 33,968 hectares, but New Brunswick is less than a 10th Ontario’s size.

In recent years, opponents of glyphosate use in the province have become increasingly vocal, citing concerns of the impact on wildlife and on the harvest of traditional foods and medicines.

Last summer, New Brunswick’s standing committee on climate change and the environment held hearings on herbicides, at which scientists, citizens’ groups and Indigenous leaders presented. In November, the committee issued 20 recommendations (though stopped short of calling for a ban on spraying), including that the minister immediately request NB Power to cease using glyphosate along transmission lines. None of the recommendations have yet been implemented.

A spokesperson for New Brunswick’s Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development said they are still under review. NB Power issued a statement saying once the province decides, it “will apply those [recommendations] to our operations as directed.”

Some Indigenous leaders say the concerns extend beyond the forest itself.

While signs are posted in parts of the forest slated to be sprayed, Cecelia Brooks, water grandmother for the Canadian Rivers Institute, says there still isn’t clear enough communication about where spraying is taking place, and overspray — when the herbicide drifts onto non-targeted areas — is a concern.

As a result, Brooks says she restricts her harvesting to wooded areas around her home. She’s also heard of community members who have stopped collecting medicines such as muskrat root and sweetgrass, or foraging traditional foods like fiddleheads from areas they fear are contaminated, like the Wolastoq River, altogether.

“If you look at the long-term effects of this, you're talking about a culture that's already been affected by cultural genocide, and now we're in the process of recapturing and reviving our culture. And yet people are afraid to go out and harvest.”

In late 2021, the Wolastoqey Nation amended a title claim filed the year prior asserting title to the Wolastoq River watershed and surrounding area, in part on the grounds that “reckless resource extraction” was damaging traditional lands. The title claim had initially named the provincial and federal governments but was amended to include the province’s largest private landowners: forestry companies such as J.D. Irving Ltd. and its subsidiaries (which own land that was given away, or sold for next to nothing, by the province), as well as NB Power. If the Wolastoqey Nation wins the claim, agreements would need to be in place with the nation before forestry operations take place on these lands.

Brooks says she hopes in the future, that move could bring about changes in the use of glyphosate.

“What that does is it gives the Wolastoqiyik people the ability to speak for the trees, so that we can protect the forests in that way.”

Caroline Lubbe-Darcy heads the group Stop Spraying in New Brunswick. Photo submitted by Caroline Lubbe-Darcy

As for the upcoming spraying season, Caroline Lubbe-D’Arcy, who heads the group Stop Spraying in New Brunswick (which has mobilized much of the broader public engagement on the issue, including the largest petition ever tabled in the New Brunswick legislature), says the fact nothing seems to have changed in the wake of the standing committee’s recommendations is frustrating. Her group remains focused on political action.

“We've done the mobilization piece that other provinces are still struggling with. We're at the point of pushing politicians.”

But given the growing chorus of voices already calling for change, Indigenous leaders aren't sure what else it could take to convince the province to change course.

“It seems really irresponsible to continue,” says Brooks. “And I really don't know what it's going to take for New Brunswick to come to its senses, and say, ‘Hold on, we need to be more careful about what we're putting out there.’”

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