April marks the 50th anniversary of the fishing industry being shut down in Grassy Narrows due to mercury contamination of the river system.  

Between 1962 and 1970, a paper mill dumped 9,000 kg of mercury into the Wabigoon River upstream from Grassy Narrows, with the Province’s permission.  No one told Grassy Narrows about this poison until 1970. In April 1970 the Ontario government shut down the local fishing industry. Within a year, unemployment rates in Grassy Narrows skyrocketed from 5% to 95%.  This is because most people worked as commercial fishers, fishing guides, or in other work related to fishing tourism. 

Since then, it has been found that many people suffer from mercury poisoning.  

In the last 50 years, little has been done to help the community through the ongoing mercury crisis.  Currently only 8% of community members get compensation for mercury poisoning, the river system is far from being cleaned-up, and the promised Mercury Care Home has yet to be built.

Grassy Narrows community members have fought for 50 years for mercury justice and four generations of Grassy Narrows people have become leaders in the growing grassroots movement for Indigenous self-determination and environmental justice.

Grassy Narrows is demanding: 

• Compensation for everyone in the community for the ongoing mercury crisis
• Restoration of Grassy Narrows’ health, culture, and environment

Given the COVID-19 health crisis we cannot come together to reflect on the 50^th anniversary of the closure of the fishing industry.  Instead, you can check out the links below if you want to learn more about Grassy Narrows’ history and why compensation for everyone in the community and the restoration of Grassy Narrows’ health, culture, and environment are essential and ongoing struggles.

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Resources on Grassy Narrows:

• Video: CBC “The Fifth Estate examines the Grassy Narrows Disaster”, 1975

• Video: River Run March in Toronto in 2010, commemorating 40 years since the closure of the fishery:

• Video: CBC The National: “Grassy Narrows – Forty years later”, 2011:

• Documentary about Grassy Narrows: “Scars of Mercury”, 2011

• Amnesty video: “The Youth Rising Up Against Canada’s Mercury Crisis”, 2019

• Video: Grassy Narrows River Run March in Toronto, 2019:

• Article: “Grassy Narrows Reserve: Mercury Pollution, Social Disruption, and Natural Resources: A Question of Autonomy” by Christopher Vecsey, 1987 

• Three-part article series by David Brophy, 2005