Reducing Pesticide Use

This section presents the various actions undertaken by Équiterre and its partners to ban the use in Quebec and Canada of pesticides deemed to have adverse effects on human health and the environment.

We play an active role with decision-makers and the different stakeholders concerned by this issue by organizing public actions and meetings with senior officials, physicians, scientists and municipalities, by submitting letters from citizens to the different levels of government, by writing briefs and, where necessary, by using the courts to ensure respect for the rights of Canadian citizens in issues affecting the environment and public health.

Along with our partners, we succeeded in mounting a legal challenge that forced the federal government to undertake a public review of hundreds of products containing pesticides shown to harm the environment and human health. We also submitted over 87,000 letters demanding that the provincial and federal governments prohibit the use of neonicotinoids (“neonics”), which kill bees and are harmful to the environment and, potentially, human health.

Thanks to legal tools, our public actions, and your support, we will protect our right to live in a healthy environment that is free of pesticides and toxic substances!

LEGAL ACTIONS

Lawsuits

In 2006, the federal government amended the Pesticides Act to include an article requiring it to conduct a public review of any pesticide banned in countries in the OECD. Équiterre and its partners were forced to take the government to federal court twice before it agreed to comply with the Act and to review pesticides deemed to pose health and environmental risks, in addition to forwarding notices of objection and letters to our elected officials:

• Initial request for a special review (October 2012)
• Background – special reviews
• Lawsuit against the federal government (August 2013)
• Notice of opposition against the federal government with respect to clothianidin (September 2013)
• Letter sent to the Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health, on clothianidin in March 2014
• Renewal of the lawsuit against the federal government - difenoconazole (April 2015)

PUBLIC ACTIONS

Calls to action

Petition to ban atrazine, a harmful pesticide that has been banned in Europe for over 10 years and is in the process of being reviewed in Canada (ongoing)

• Petition calling on Health Canada to move rapidly to ban imidaclopride and all neonicotinoids pesticides in Canada (2017)
• Petition demanding a ban on atrazine, the most harmful pesticide used in Quebec (2015)
• Submission of over 37,000 letters from citizens calling on the Quebec government (and, in partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation, an additional 90,000 letters calling on our federal and provincial politicians) to ban neonic pesticides that kill bees and pose a risk to the environment and, potentially, human health (June 2015)
• Over 90,000 letters from citizens sent to the provincial and federal ministries concerned calling for a ban on neonics in Canada (2015)
• Petition calling for the strengthening of Quebec’s Pesticides Management Code (2011)
   

Press releases and press conferences

• Request for Special Review of 30 Substances under Pest Control Products Act (October 15, 2012)
• Environmental groups demand health minister Rona Ambrose take action on bee-killing pesticide (September 24, 2013)
• Environmental groups force Ottawa to review approval of hundreds of pesticide products (February 5, 2014)
• Registration Decision and Clothianidin Insecticides – July 23, 2013 (March 13, 2014)
• Unprecedented study confirms neonic pesticides endager bees, birds, butterflies and earthworms (June 25, 2014)
• International neonicotinoid expert presents findings in Montreal evidence is clear : neonics cause grave harm, must be restricted (May 29, 2015)
• Why is Quebec waiting to ban bee-killing pesticides? (June 17, 2015)
• Equiterre calls on Quebec to ban the most hazardous pesticide used in the province (September 11, 2015)
• Feds urged to protect wild bees (September 17, 2015)
• Equiterre and the David Suzuki Foundation applaud Quebec's decision to regulate the use of the most hazardous pesticides (November 22, 2015)
• Federal Court requires Canada to review 350+ pesticide products banned in Europe (May 20, 2016)
• Cosmetic Pesticides – Provincial Policies & Municipal Bylaws: Lessons Learned & Best Practices (August 2016)
• Equiterre and David Suzuki Foundation applaud federal action to phase out neonicotinoid pesticide but criticize timeline (November 24, 2016)
• House of commons committee to open hearings on neonic pesticide with industry-biased panel (March 6, 2017)
• Environmental groups find atrazine in drinking water and urge the federal government to ban the use of this toxic pesticide (March 14, 2017)
• Health Canada decides not to ban atrazine, a harmful pesticide found in drinking water in Canada (March 31, 2017)
• Health Canada’s glyphosate evaluation flawed, environmental groups charge (April 28, 2017)

EVENTS

Conférences

Toxin toxout authors Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie give lunch-hour talk in Montreal

TOOLS FOR SHARING

Videos, visuals, animations and background documents

Printemps 2016 : Au cours des prochains mois, le gouvernement du Québec entend réviser la Loi sur les pesticides et le Code de gestion des pesticides, qui régissent la vente et l’usage des pesticides au Québec. Il s’agira d’un moment important dans l’histoire des pesticides et de la protection de notre santé et de notre environnement au Québec. Nous vous invitons à rester informés et à faire circuler les visuels ci-dessous autour de vous! Téléchargez-les et partagez-les sur vos réseaux sociaux.

Backgrounders on four hazardous pesticides still in use in Canada

Discover, share and download our background documents, prepared in collaboration with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), on four commonly used pesticides in Canada: neonicotinoids, atrazine, pyrethroids and glyphosate.

• Neonics, Honey Bees, and Food Security
• Atrazine: Banned in Europe Common in Canada
• Glyphosate: ubiquitous and worrisome
• Pyrethroid - just because we can use them at home doesn't mean that trey're harmless

Visuals for sharing

Suggestion de texte pour l'accompagner :

Selon l'Association canadienne des médecins pour l'environnement et Équiterre, certains pesticides sont dangereux pour la santé de nos enfants. La prudence s’impose. Partagez et dites ‪#‎NonAuxPesticides‬!
Consultez ce dossier : bit.ly/22i5CVf et visitez https://cape.ca/

Suggestion de texte pour l'accompagner :

Selon l'Association canadienne des médecins pour l'environnement et Équiterre, certains pesticides ont un impact important sur nos pollinisateurs, comme les abeilles et les papillons. La prudence s’impose. Partagez et dites ‪#‎NonAuxPesticides‬‬!

Consultez ce dossier : bit.ly/22i5CVf et visitez https://cape.ca/

Suggestion de texte pour l'accompagner :

Certains pesticides comportent des risques graves pour la santé des bébés à naitre. La prudence s’impose. Partagez et dites #NonAuxPesticides!

Consultez notre dossier : http://bit.ly/23ZGFNB et visitez https://cape.ca/

Video animation : Where would we be without bees? In collaboration with New Yorker artiste Zina Saunders

Video : Street Performance « Non aux pesticides néonics qui tuent les abeilles »


 

Consultez également notre section Vivre sans pesticides, pour découvrir des fiches d’information et des solutions aux interrogations courantes afin de mieux vivre sans pesticides.

En résumé:  This section presents the actions to ban pesticide in Quebec and Canada.