Grassy Narrows wins cleanup promise after 40 years!

Monday, February 13, 2017

Chief Simon Fobister received momentous news when he met Premier Kathleen Wynne on Friday.

Premier Wynne promised to him that Ontario would clean up the English-Wabigoon River system and the Dryden Mill and that this cleanup would be led by Grassy Narrows First Nation!

This is a moment for cautious celebration, but the work is not done. No schedule has been announced, and the remediation has not begun. Promises made before have been broken.

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Chief Fobister to Trudeau: Commit now to clean our poisoned river

RELEASE                                                       

Tuesday January 17, 2017

Chief to Trudeau: Commit now to clean our poisoned river

Toronto – The Chief of Grassy Narrows First Nation is speaking out today after Prime Minister Trudeau committed last night, through a spokesperson, to take action on the mercury crisis in Grassy Narrows and the English-Wabigoon River watershed.  The statement said that the federal government “will continue working closely with the Province of Ontario and the First Nations to get to the bottom of the science, and the next steps necessary to deal with this issue once and for all.”

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Evidence of mercury dump site discovered upstream from Grassy Narrows

Activists have found evidence of a mercury dump site.

 

Call Premier Wynne and demand a cleanup!

1. Read the instructions and list of demands below 
2. Call the Premier’s office at 416-325-1941 

Activists have found mercury contaminated soil behind the Dryden paper mill, upstream from Grassy Narrows. Today, the Toronto Star reported on their discovery. 
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Water is Sacred: Voices from the Front Lines

Come hear Indigenous water defenders and mercury experts speak

Judy Da Silva, Grassy Narrows
Vanessa Gray, Aamjiwnaang
Waawaate Fobister, Grassy Narrows
Dr. Hanada, Open Research Centre for Minamata Studies, Japan

Tuesday September 20, 2016 at 6:30pm
University of Toronto, Room 1101 Sanford Fleming Building. 10 King’s College Road

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ON misled public with baseless claim of mercury clean-up risk in Grassy Narrows

Government provides no evidence that recommended clean up would be risky. Minister recommended Grassy Narrows mercury clean up to cabinet in 1984. Scientists safely achieved ten-fold reduction in mercury in 1980s Wabigoon study.

Toronto – For months Premier Wynne has insisted that she strongly wants to clean up Grassy Narrows First Nation’s mercury poisoned river, but repeatedly she has warned that a clean up could do harm by stirring up buried mercury.  On Monday, a Toronto Star investigation revealed that Wynne’s repeated warnings of remediation risks are without basis in fact. 

When asked by the Star for evidence of the risks posed by the mercury clean up methods recommended by scientists for Grassy Narrows’ river, the government did not provide “any scientific evidence cautioning against these methods”. 

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