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Farmers and rural officials across Saskatchewan say Ottawa’s decision to review the strychnine ban could finally bring relief in the fight against gophers. Still, some warn that the solution needs to balance effectiveness and safety.
At the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) midterm convention in Regina, delegates announced a resolution calling on the federal government to either reintroduce strychnine or provide a cost-effective alternative for pest control.
The once-common chemical was banned by Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) in 2023, leaving producers with few reliable options.
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SARM President Bill Huber told delegates that the association had received a verbal commitment from Ottawa to review the use of strychnine in emergencies, with support from provincial and municipal governments.
“We also asked for the reinstatement of strychnine to manage Richardson’s ground squirrels,” Huber said. “They’re not just a nuisance, they’re a plague on our crops. And before we even got home from Ottawa, the federal government verbally committed to reviewing its use.”
While commitment is still informing many municipal leaders, they see it as the first progress since the ban took effect.
Hazelwood Reeve James Husband says the gopher problem has worsened since strychnine was banned, leaving few effective options for farmers. (Jacob Bamhour/980 CJME)
For Hazelwood Reeve James Husband, the damage from gophers is already adding up.
“We’ve faced extensive crop and pasture damage,” Husband said. “Since strychnine was banned, the problem’s only grown. The new options don’t work; the old product, used right, was extremely effective.
Husband says farmers want Ottawa to allow more potent formulations, not the diluted version that replaced it years ago.
Further south, Val Marie reeve and farmer Larry Grant described the ripple effects gophers cause across the Prairies, from crop loss to machinery damage caused by badgers drawn to burrows.
“Gophers are a destructive pest,” Grant said. “They eat crops, they eat grass, and when you get badgers going after them, they can wreck equipment. The most reliable and safest way to control them was strychnine; now we don’t have a product that really works.”
Grant says gophers thrive in drought-prone areas, particularly in southwestern Saskatchewan, and the cost of repairs and re-seeding continues to rise.
Still, some municipal leaders aren’t convinced strychnine should return. John Hilger, council member for the RM of Clinworth, says other products can work if used correctly, without harming natural predators.
“I don’t know if it’s totally necessary to bring back strychnine,” Hilger said. “The new products can work if you put them out in time, and they don’t hurt the predators.
Hilger’s view reflects a minority at the convention but highlights the ongoing debate over environmental risks linked to the poison, which also kills birds and mammals that prey on rodents.
Also speaking at SARM’s convention, Sameer Thawer, operations lead for Ecopest Inc. and president of Canadian Pest Management Association, told delegates that rodent control can’t rely solely on chemicals.
“We live in the pest world, they don’t live in ours,” Thawer said. “You can’t fix a rodent problem with chemistry, but you can fix it by managing rodents.”
Thawer said regulators in Canada and the U.S. are reviewing rodenticides nationwide, which could lead to tighter safety rules and the reclassification of certain products. He urged municipalities to adopt an integrated rodent management plan built on three pillars: education, elimination, and control.
“We’ll never live in a world without pests,” Thawer said. “The point is to manage them sustainably, through prevention, training and responsible control.”
SARM says it’s still waiting for formal confirmation from the federal government, but calls Ottawa’s verbal commitment an encouraging sign.
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