GRASSY NARROWS FIRST NATION, ONT.—Renowned environmentalist David Suzuki said he was “delighted” with the province’s historic $85-million mercury cleanup announcement and told Indigenous elders here that their courageous, long fight against the harmful pollution is “a great gift.”

But he agreed with many concerned community members that much more than a river cleanup is needed. In a community centre near the powwow grounds Wednesday, Suzuki formally announced his foundation would lend its weight and support Grassy Narrows’ pursuit of, among other things, a care home and treatment centre for survivors of mercury poisoning.

“Eighty-five million sounds like a lot of money, (but) that is not going to cover the long-term medical issues in this community,” he told the crowd.

Between 1962 and 1970, the paper plant in Dryden, then owned by Reed Paper, dumped 10 tonnes of mercury into the river about 100 kilometres upstream.

The mercury, a potent neurotoxin, contaminated the fish, which poisoned the people of Grassy Narrows and nearby Wabaseemoong (Whitedog) Independent Nations.

On Tuesday Environment Minister Glen Murray announced the $85-million fund for remediation of the Wabigoon River system, calling the province’s past handling of the mercury poisoning of Grassy Narrows an embarrassment and “gross neglect.”

The commitment followed a Star investigation that probed the impact of the poisoning and decades-long lack of action by government.

And it came after decades of activism by Grassy Narrows community members, from chiefs to mothers to youth. Most recently, “River Run” protests in Toronto have been led by the younger generations.

Judy Da Silva, a community member who helped organize the River Runs, said the provincial announcement was significant and gives reason to be hopeful for the future, though she is also skeptical.

“Governments have promised us big things, and then it never happened,” she said. “My community can’t really fathom what the $85 million means. We just got to wait and see it.”

Da Silva applauded Suzuki for putting his name behind the cause.

“He’s a world icon in environmentalism,” she said. “Him being here, it makes people shake in their boots because he has so much respect and so much clout, and that’s was we need to put Grassy Narrows on the world stage.”

That the major funding announcement came the day before Suzuki was scheduled to visit Grassy Narrows was “a rather amazing coincidence” Suzuki said and chuckled. “Perhaps (my visit) hurried them up. But I really believe the government has a good heart. I have a great deal of time for Kathleen (Wynne) and or Glen (Murray).”

Most of the credit should go to the people of Grassy Narrows, Suzuki told the Star.

“They hung in there, goddamnit, and they fought and fought and fought,” he said, adding that science “has to be guided by the Indigenous knowledge that’s thousands of years old.”

“Indigenous people have got to be guiding us,” he told the crowd. “We really mucked up Mother Earth. Your battle is our battle: It’s how we live on this planet.”

Community members presented Suzuki with an arrowhead, wild rice and other gifts, and then he set out from shore with local Larry Keewatin Jr. to go fishing.