Grassy Narrows FIrst Nation

Canada remains opposed to Aboriginal rights and valuing Indigenous lives

Canada remains opposed to Aboriginal rights and valuing Indigenous lives

Grassy Narrows First Nation has been beset with indifference for their lives and their rights by the Canadian government for five decades. From 1962 to 1970, the Dryden paper mill dumped 10 tonnes of mercury into the Wabigoon River upstream from Grassy Narrows. This polluted fish and drinking wells. The federal and provincial governments claimed as late as 2016 that the river would clean out the mercury naturally. Despite reports as early as 1984 stating government action was needed. Still nothing has been done. The Canadian government’s utter disregard for Indigenous lives is so perverse that until recently it has not allotted resources for researchers to intensively study the health impact of the mercury. Rather, the bulk of research done has been by a Japanese research team that in 2012 found at least one resident who was born with mercury poisoning and, in 2007, two children born with brain cancer and who experienced seizures.