who dumped mercury in grassy narrows

Grassy Narrows has been suffering from mercury poisoning since the 1960s, when the pulp and paper mill in Dryden, Ontario dumped 9,000 kilograms in the Wabigoon River. Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6, fish near Grassy Narrows remain the most contaminated in the province. Grassy Narrows’ legacy of mercury poisoning began in 1962, when the paper plant in Dryden, then owned by Reed Paper, began to dump mercury into … The change was made on Canada Day, a few hours after Premier Doug Ford’s office posted a news release that listed more than a dozen regulatory and legislative changes within 11 ministries. “Every population that lives, works or plays in the forest is at risk,” he said. “We’ve suffered from the environmental contamination of mercury already,” Fobister said. “For us, for me, as a mother and grandmother, I feel it’s a betrayal to my people, the … He hopes this will be the first of many changes when it comes to mercury disability care. "From birth, even today, you get stuff that affects the nerves," Fobister said. Mercury poisoning impairs peripheral vision, hearing, speech, and cognitive function. The environment ministry said the elimination is part of the government’s “environmental assessment modernization efforts.”. They dumped approximately 9000kg of untreated mercury into the English Wabigoon river, upstream from Grassy Narrows, from 1962 to 1970 (Anderson, 2019). The current plan for the Whiskey Jack Forest, home to Grassy Narrows, ends in 2022. Water bottles are seen at the local water supply site on the Grassy Narrows First Nation, in northwestern Ontario, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019. The people of Grassy Narrows deserve justice – they deserve clean land and water and for these illegally dumped contaminants to be fully removed and the area restored. During the 1960s, a chemical plant in Dryden dumped more than nine tons of mercury into the area’s water system. expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto About usTake ActionCampaignsAnalysisUpdatesContact Us, Donate nowRenew your supportOther ways to give, The Council of Canadians 200-240 Bank Street, Ottawa, ON K2P 1X4, Tel. The Grassy Narrows … Decades of mercury poisoning among Grassy Narrows residents illustrate the connection between industry, the environment and human health. But remediation will be ineffective if there continues to be a discharge of mercury into the Wabigoon River now, or in the future. Fish, their main source of food, contained extremely high levels of mercury from toxic dumping by the Dryden Chemicals pulp and paper mill upstream (Kraus 2013). They developed tremors, loss of muscle co-ordination, slurred speech and tunnel vision. Beginning in the 1960s, Reed Paper dumped tons-upon-tons of toxic mercury, a by-product of paper bleaching, into the Wabigoon River. Recent soil samples from the property show unnaturally high levels of mercury, indicating that the barrels may have rusted away and released their toxic contents. 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. 1969-70: High levels of mercury are discovered in the water and fish downriver from the plant. In recent years, Toronto Star investigations and scientists have shown that fish near Grassy Narrows remain the most contaminated in the province; that there is mercury-contaminated soil and river sediment at or near the site of the old mill; and the provincial government knew in the 1990s that mercury was visible in soil under that site and never told anyone in Grassy Narrows or nearby Wabaseemoong (Whitedog) Independent Nations. Grassy Narrows Chief Rudy Turtle welcomed Friday’s announcement. The clear-cut logging … Before Rudd’s report, the only major scientific inquiry into mercury poisoning at Grassy Narrows was undertaken by a group of Japanese scientists, first in 1975 and again in a 2010 follow-up. A retired plant worker blew the whistle on this, saying he was ordered to haphazardly bury dozens of barrels of mercury waste in the 1970s. The federal government has agreed to fund a $19.5-million mercury care home for Grassy Narrows First Nation, more than two years after Ottawa first promised the facility. Dryden Chemical had dumped more than 20,000 pounds of mercury into the Wabigoon. By 1970, the Ontario government closed down the commercial fishery and issued formal warnings against fish consumption, a dietary staple of Grassy Narrows residents, due to the extremely high levels of toxic mercury found in fish. It has been almost 50 years since the revelation its fish had been poisoned by tonnes of mercury dumped into its river system by a paper mill owned by Reed Paper Ltd., in … The Dryden paper mill, now owned by Domtar, dumped tons of mercury into the English-Wabigoon River during the 1960s. Will you take a moment of your time to write to the Ontario government and demand that it fulfill the commitment to remediate this site? When Grassy Narrows Chief Rudy Turtle got the news, he said, “I was upset, and scared for my people who eat the fish from the river that flows by that site.” “If you were to do a keyword search in the (crown forest act) the words ‘human’ and ‘health’ will not show up,” said Joseph Castrilli, a lawyer with the Canadian Environmental Law Association. Forty years after Dryden Chemical Company dumped 20,000 pounds of mercury into the Wabigoon River, with the Ontario government’s expressed consent, the people of Grassy Narrows continue to suffer the effects of mercury poisoning. The Ford government must act now to find the buried mercury barrels and to comprehensively investigate the mill site. I’m sure you’re as shocked as I am by reading today’s Toronto Star report that the Ontario government is dragging its feet on commitments to search for mercury at the infamous Dryden mill site – mercury that may still be contaminating the waters of Grassy Narrows (Asubpeeschoseewagong) First Nation. CBC video journalist Peter Wall returns to Grassy Narrows, 40 years after the community was poisoned with Mercury. Forestry companies’ logging plans are approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources and renewed every 10 years as part of a management plan. The former Liberal government in Ontario said it would spend $85 million on remediating the contaminated waterways upstream of Grassy Narrows. Japanese and Canadian mercury experts have confirmed that Grassy Narrows people have been made sick by this mercury. Indigenous communities in Ontario’s north fear another round of mercury poisoning after the provincial government eliminated environmental assessments for commercial clear-cutting on Crown forest land. 1963: The community of Grassy Narrows is moved several kilometres south by order of the federal government to make the reserve accessible by provincial roads. The property is now known to harbour significant amounts of mercury, including some that was illegally buried in steel drums decades ago. View more about Dianne Saxe. 9 tonnes of mercury were dumped into Grassy Narrows’ Wabigoon River between 1962 and 1970 by a paper mill in Dryden with permission from Ontario. rights reserved. The tipster alleged that decades ago mercury was dumped in barrels and buried in a plastic-lined pit. 1970: The government of Ontario closes the Wabigoon-English river system commercial fishery, removing one of the primary sources of income for residents of Grassy Narrows. Dryden is located about 130 km upstream from Grassy Narrows. Ninety per cent of our people are suffering from mercury poisoning. The federal government has paid more than $9 million for compensation to the First Nations affected by the mercury contamination. The potent neurotoxin contaminated the river’s fish and poisoned the people who ate them. The region affected includes a huge swath of central and Northern Ontario forests, between Manitoba and Quebec, according to the province. The property is now known to harbour significant amounts of mercury, including some that was illegally buried in steel drums decades ago. Please take a moment to send an email to the federal and provincial governments in support of the people of Grassy Narrows. The government says it is “ending duplication” by removing logging activities from the Environmental Assessment Act, which falls under the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution “We are not happy about this,” said Fobister, a member of the land protection team that blocks logging on Grassy Narrows territory in the Whiskey Jack Forest. 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. 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. 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. 1962: Dryden Chemical, relying on a mercury-based process to produce bleaching agents for the paper mill nearby, begins dumping untreated mercury waste into the Wabigoon River. When Glowacki’s letter came to light this summer, Grassy Narrows residents were shocked that the province had not taken immediate action to investigate the dump site. 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