There has been a lot of coverage lately of the Grassy Narrows community in Northern Ontario.If the name of the community seems familiar, we heard a lot about Grassy Narrows in the 70s when it was discovered that there was a high level of mercury in fish eaten by the Indigenous population of the area. .This contaminent came from a pulp and paper plant at Dryden which dumped an estimated nine tonnes of mercury as part of its effluent into the English-Wabagoon River system. Mercury is highly toxic, causing a variety of illnesses and resulting in birth defects.
You might recall that Japanese reserchers came to the area to identify Minamata disease, present in their country. The commercial fishery was closed, as were some tourist camps, although people continued to eat the fish so important in their tradition.
We lived in Sudbury from 1988 to 1999 and while we were there I became aware of what's described as the environmental racism in the North. Whether it was mining, or forestry, or pulp and paper mills, the traditional lands of Indigenous peoples were often degraded or essentially expropriated, regardless of existing treaties, in this instance Treaty 3. The concerns of those who have depended on their unceded lands for millennia have been ignored.
I think Grassy Narrows ended up on my radar thanks to the Kairos coalition of faith groups. I certainly came to appreciate that there is an "out of sight, out of mind, " attitude about the North in Southern Ontario, except when it comes to resource extraction. The current provincial government has made big, bold announcements about the Ring of Fire and mining development for metals necessary for the batteries in electric vehicles. Once again, this has happened without thorough consultation with First Nations.
We're hearing about Grassy Narrows now because of a recently filed lawsuit. Promises to clean up the river system have not been realized and mercury contamination is still a serious health problem So, the Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek First Nation — known as Grassy Narrows — filed a lawsuit in Ontario's Superior Court of Justice against the provincial and federals governements. According to a news release: Our mercury nightmare should have ended long ago, but it has been longer and worse because of the government's failure to live up to its obligations,"
Even today medical specialists estimate about 90 per cent of the community of roughly 1,000 people experience symptoms of mercury poisoning and high mercury levels are evident in the umbilical cords of newborns. The mercury level in the water and fish is actually going up and the stories of suffering are heart-breaking.
We can ask whether the practical commitment to justice and reconciliation matters when a serious issue identified more than 50 years ago still hasn't been resolved. It's a sad comment on our society when it requires a lawsuit to get the attention of governments. This is a sin.
“It’s still bad. They could say it’s going to make things greener, but in the long run, for us Native people, we always end up with the short end of the stick, and we’re always left behind. I don’t think it’s going to be any different now. So, until you show me otherwise, I might think differently, but right now I don’t.”
Chief Randy Turtle
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