All A First Nation of about 650 people near Ontario’s border with Manitoba, Grassy Narrows’ water was contaminated by tonnes of mercury dumped into its water system by an upstream paper mill. While the province has promised a clean-up, they have recently been accused of stalling. Justin Trudeau appearance interrupted by protester from Grassy Narrows First Nation. Our editors decided that while we couldn’t prove it was true, it was credible and certainly worth further investigation by the proper officials. It was about this time last year. Fetuses are particularly vulnerable to cognitive damage. Government agencies responsible for the cleanup and study of the mercury pollution in the Wabigoon River system fear that dredging the sediments in the Wabigoon River may increase the levels of mercury downstream. “Strong leaders like Steve Fobister Sr., Simon Fobister and so many others have fought to establish a mercury care facility and, tragically, did not see it come to fruition. Symptoms of mercury poisoning include loss of muscle co-ordination, slurred speech and tunnel vision. “Even while I’m speaking today, there’s people suffering in many community,” he said. The people of Grassy Narrows have suffered from symptoms of mercury poisoning for more than four decades and scientists had been saying elevated mercury levels in fish and sediment … GRASSY NARROWS — Recent reports have raised alarm over the impact of mercury poisoning on those who eat fish from the lakes and rivers surrounding Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek (Grassy Narrows First Nation), located 80 kilometres north of Kenora — but despite the risks, many residents continue to eat the fish: there are simply too few other options for food. permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com. Canada has kept the issue on the back-burner for half a century, Turtle said, adding he believes the situation would have been addressed long ago if Grassy Narrows were a non-Indigenous community. So have many in Wabaseemoong Independent Nations, also known as Whitedog First Nation, about 130 kilometres away. The heavy metal can be passed from mothers to babies they carry, making it a problem that lasts generations. In the 1960s, the Dryden Chemical Company used mercury in a process to create the materials needed to bleach paper at a paper mill along the English-Wabigoon River, just 320 kilometers upstream from Grassy Narrows. The neighbour took our cards and said she would try to reach him, but made no promises. During the 1960s, the Dryden pulp and paper mill, operated by Reed Paper, dumped 10 tonnes of mercury into the Wabigoon River that feeds Grassy Narrows and nearby Wabaseemoong (Whitedog) Independent Nations. In 1962, Dryden Chemicals Ltd. began operating a chlor-alkali plant in Dryden, Ontario. Tuncak said the case should have been the “highest of priorities” and the government has failed to explain its “inaction.”. Baskut Tuncak, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights and hazardous substances and wastes, said he has heard during a two-week tour with various stops that members of Grassy Narrows First Nation are frustrated and they’re suffering from mercury contamination. Yet another recent scientific report on the issue has cautioned that mercury levels in fish — a main food staple for the two communities — and sediment in the area are still dangerously high. Had he gotten cold feet? Rudy Turtle, chief of the Grassy Narrows First Nation in northwestern Ontario, is seen here on the reserve on Friday, May 18, 2018. READ MORE: “I have and will continue to support Grassy Narrows First Nation,” said Ontario Regional Chief RoseAnne Archibald. Stopping this pollution, and compensating those affected, was one of the great environmental causes of the 1970s and early 80s. That next day in Medicine Hat, at Glowacki’s bungalow, we weren’t sure what to expect. Earlier this year, we discovered with the help of an environmental group called Earthroots that there are higher than normal levels of mercury behind the old Dryden mill in the same spot Glowacki circled on a map. Email your questions to trust@thestar.ca. “We are being poisoned by mercury and our people are suffering and I think that things should be called as they are.”, Get a roundup of the most important and intriguing stories, delivered to your inbox, Mercury contamination in Grassy Narrows example of government ‘inaction’: UN human rights expert. Grassy Narrows elder: ‘When you have mercury you have it for life’ – Dec 3, 2019 Bowater, which eventually became Resolute, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009. Grassy Narrows is an Ojibwe First Nation located 55 kilometres northeast of Kenora, Ont. More than 400,000 letters of support from around the world called for justice for Grassy Narrows and contributed to the successful signing of an agreement to build a mercury care home. Between 1962 and 1970, the Dryden Chemical Paper Mill dumped ten tonnes of waste mercury into the Wabigoon-English River, approximately 320km upstream from the Asubpeeschoseewagong Nitam-Anishinaabeg (Grassy Narrows First Nation) community. The story of Kas Glowacki and the alleged dump led us to new sources in the Grassy Narrows, science and legal communities and new information that shed light on decades of government stalling and dissembling. The address we found turned out to be Glowacki’s old house. OTTAWA – The case of a northern Ontario First Nation plagued by mercury contamination is “emblematic” of an overall pattern of inaction in the face of grave risks to the health of Indigenous Peoples, a United Nations human-rights expert said Thursday – the same day the community’s chief came to Ottawa to urge action. Paper Mill in Dryden Ontario. [22] Soil samples that showed hundreds of times the mercury level of a nearby uncontaminated site were taken from an area behind the Dryden paper mill where former mill worker Kas Glowacki said he buried 50 barrels of mercury and salt in 1972. The community has been dealing with mercury poisoning for over 50 years after Dryden Chemicals Ltd., a pulp and paper mill, polluted the English-Wabigoon river system with untreated neurotoxic mercury between 1962 and 1970. As a result, the people of Grassy Narrows and Whitedog were negatively affected and suffered from mercury poisoning, one variant of which is called Minamata disease (it originally occurred in Japan in the Minamata Bay area during 1952–60). Between 1962 and 1970, the company dumped an estimated 9,000 kg of untreated mercury into the English-Wabigoon river system, upstream from Grassy Narrows and Whitedog First Nations. A First Nation of about 650 people near Ontario’s border with Manitoba, Grassy Narrows’ water was contaminated by tonnes of mercury dumped into its water system by an upstream paper mill. He knew we were in Alberta. He argued that such a fund would ensure the project moves ahead no matter the results of the October federal election – a move supported by former Indigenous-services minister Jane Philpott, now an Independent MP. Decades of promises, but little action as mercury still takes lives in Grassy Narrows Apr 03, 2019 It’s been half a century since a pulp and paper mill in Dryden, Ont. One study estimated that 90 per cent of the population suffers from some degree of mercury poisoning, which can cause everything from cognitive impairments to hearing loss and emotional changes. KENORA – Grassy Narrows First Nation is getting a treatment centre for Mercury poisoning and issues resulting from long-term exposure to the element from the waters of the English River – Wabigoon Water system. Judy is 55 years old, mother to five children, and a resident of Grassy Narrows in Ontario, Canada.She and the other First Nations people have built their way of life around the Wabigoon River, a breathtaking body of water which sweeps through the forested hills surrounding the Grassy Narrows reservation. Grassy Narrows should have the facility it’s been seeking for some time, Philpott said in an interview Thursday, adding the federal government made a commitment to move ahead with it when she was minister. Grassy Narrows youth were one of ten global cases focused on young human rights defenders leading the charge for change in their communities. Once we had a general location, an online Canada411 entry gave us an address about 20 kilometres away. The plant used mercury to manufacture chlorine, which was in turn used to bleach paper at the Dryden Paper Company Ltd. What I didn’t know until now is that he had received a call from his former neighbour who told him there were “two characters trying to track me down for poisoning with arsenic.” We’d likely confused the neighbour with our impromptu appearance and Glowacki said he wanted to “get the facts straight, before my former neighbours thought I was someone sinister.”, About his decision to go public, he says he weighed the pros and cons and decided “that the whole thing should be more realistic with a face to the name.”, This story is part of a Star series exploring how the newsroom operates. He was at an impasse trying to reach Glowacki, who described himself as a former mill employee. Half a century later residents of Grassy Narrows are still grappling with the long term health, social, and economic impacts. We tried the local bar. Through our recently launched trust initiative, we’ve received many emails from readers asking how we choose and pursue investigations and how we come to trust the information our sources give. If true, it would be bombshell information. By the afternoon, we’d exhausted all our options. Jody Wilson-Raybould says she has to acknowledge that PM apologized for Grassy Narrows, Jody Wilson-Raybould says she has to acknowledge that PM apologized for Grassy Narrows – Apr 5, 2019, Unemployment benefits for millions expire as Trump refuses to sign COVID-19 relief bill, Ontario confirms Canada’s 1st known cases of U.K. coronavirus variant, Steve Fobister remembered as leader, activist, Steve Fobister remembered as leader, activist – Oct 25, 2018, Canada reports first cases of U.K. coronavirus variant. Last week, environmental organization Earthroots came out with evidence of mercury contamination upstream from the Grassy Narrows First Nation. For example, he said he was certain of the year because he had just had a baby). In 1970, the Ontariogovernment ordered th… In 2016, Sneaky and her compatriots at the youth complex made a music video, Home to Me, to show pride in Grassy Narrows and tell others that their home is more than the site of a mercury … DRYDEN / TORONTO – “I am shocked to hear that mercury contaminated soil has been found behind the mill after Ontario assured us that the hidden mercury dump reported by Kas Glowacki did not exist,” says Grassy Narrows Chief Simon Fobister. expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Involved visiting communities affected by toxins: Military aid being ‘ drawn down ’ in Pikangikum wildfire. S worth of reporting on mercury contamination explained, and awaiting appropriate government action from Grassy Narrows back. As Whitedog First Nation the charge for change in their communities Indigenous … meet Judy DaSilva –,. 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