Grassy Narrows toxic state is going to be cleaned up, finally. Mercury poisoning has been a destructive force in the community for over 40 years.
In nearby Dryden, in northwestern Ontario, Reed Paper dumped the mercury into the English-Wabigoon River in the 1960s and early 1970s. This resulted in the mercury poisoning among First Nations people who ate the fish caught in the area.
Over the years there have been lawsuits and a compensation fund established for the victims of the poisoning. Scientific opinions differed with an insistence on ‘natural recovery’ as the viable option. It was certainly the cheapest option.
Natural recovery stalled 30 years ago, Rudd said, noting that levels of mercury in some waterways in the area are five to 10 times “what they should be.”
“It affected everybody”
Last Friday, in a face to face meeting in Toronto, Premier Kathleen Wynn met with Chief Simon Forbister to make the historic commitment that the English-Wabigoon River river and the toxic sites at the pulp mill would now be cleaned up.
ListenChief Forbister, who has been working for decades on the matter, described it as a historic occasion: “Because Premier Wynn and the government have committed to clean up the mercury that’s in the Domtar site and the river system and that’s never been said before or done before.”
Although, he says there was an opportunity in the mid-1980’s with the Minister of the Environment’s support at the time, but the Premier did not approve.
In the wake of some of the most recent research led by John Rudd, the government’s response has evolved.
“It has been frustrating,” Rudd told CBC in May of 2016 when his findings were released. “We made these recommendations in the 1980s and our report was put on the shelf.”
Natural recovery stalled 30 years ago, Rudd said, noting that levels of mercury in some waterways in the area are five to 10 times “what they should be.”
Fobister says he is impressed with Premier Wynn’s sincerity and her integrity and her determination to line up the money with the scientific community to proceed.
“Dr. John Rudd is preparing a work plan and budget for this clean-up”, he says. Ontario Premier Wynn already has the support of the federal government who had promised “to work on the next steps” in the ongoing crisis at Grassy Narrows.
The effect of the poisoning began in 47 years ago Chief Fobister explains.
“In 1970 Barney Lamm, who owned Ball Lake Lodge, closed his camp because of the mercury that was in the fish. He felt that he couldn’t expose his employees to mercury poisoning. He had 100 employees to 100 guests, a one to one ratio, and all those people lost their jobs, whether they were guides or camp boys or cabin maids and so on. There was also at the same time, Ontario closed the commercial fishing down, so those two revenue streams that our people used to get from guiding and commercial fishing was gone.”
Most of the people went on welfare. Chief Forbister says “it destroyed a lot of people’s self-esteem” He says a lot of the people were already experiencing the tremors and other symptoms that develop with mercury poisoning.
He says, as a result “there was a lot of social upheaval in the community at the time”. He says “It affected everybody”.
Fobister says there is some research yet to be done to locate the hot spots, but Dr. John Rudd’s work should be finished by December and the actual clean-up can begin the following year.
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