DRYDEN – The pulp mill in Dryden is receiving money from a “green” fund, and Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa has questions about that.

The Northern Energy Advantage Program (NEAP) funding received by Dryden Fibre Canada should be conditional on the mill taking measures to “put an end to the exacerbation of the mercury poisoning crisis in Grassy Narrows First Nation,” Mamakwa said in an interview Wednesday.

Dryden Fibre Canada has owned the decades-old mill since the summer of 2023.

Under a previous owner, the mill dumped an estimated nine tonnes of mercury into the Wabigoon River in the 1960s and ’70s.

The resultant mercury poisoning caused debilitating illnesses in the Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoong (Whitedog) First Nations downstream from the mill.

Mercury hasn’t been released by the mill for decades, but mercury lingers. In May, a provincially-funded study found the effluents being released today stimulate the formation of methylmercury, the most toxic form of mercury.

In an exchange last month during budget estimates hearings at Queen’s Park, Mamakwa asked Northern Development Minister Greg Rickford “whether or not the Dryden paper mill is one of the annual recipients of funding through the Northern Energy Advantage Program.”

After saying NEAP is for a “cleaner and greener” economy in the north and being asked again if the mill is receiving NEAP money, Rickford said the mill receives NEAP funding in amounts that “fluctuate from year to year.”

The mill’s owner received $263,000 in a recent fiscal year, said Rickford, whose Kenora-Rainy River riding includes Dryden and Grassy Narrows.

Reached for comment last month Dryden Fibre Canada emailed a brief statement noting that it only recently took ownership of the mill.

“We work diligently to ensure the mill operates in compliance with extensive environmental regulatory requirements,” the company added.