Globe Editorial: Fix the mercury poisoning at Grassy Narrows now
The walleye has been a staple food for many indigenous peoples in northern Ontario from time out of mind. In the 1960s, though, a paper company’s processes accidentally poisoned the English-Wabigoon river system on which the Grassy Narrows First Nation relied.
The paper mill closed in 1970. Strangely, though, 90 per cent of the people of Grassy Narrows still suffer from mercury poisoning, at the highest levels in Ontario.
The poison seems not to wash itself through the water system. And most of the people of Grassy Narrows don’t want to give up their traditional diet. Some of them seem resigned to their fate.
In typical Canadian style, the federal government says this is not about federal lands, even though indigenous health is well within federal jurisdiction.
As for the provincial government of Ontario, it seems to persist in resignation or despair. Last year, an eminent ecologist, David Schindler, of the University of Alberta, advanced the hypothesis that there is an “ongoing source” of the mercury – or possibly two or three – that needs to be identified and removed.
In November, Glenn Murray, the Environment Minister, asserted in the legislature, “We found there are no barrels buried [containing mercury], and there is no source.” Premier Kathleen Wynne said that moving sediment in the river bed to search for a source could just make things even worse.
But in the autumn an conservation-advocacy group called Earthroots dug holes and took samples from a disused paper mill, showing high levels of mercury. A retired paper-mill worker confirmed to the Earthroots people that mercury had been dumped there in the past.
Earthroots is not a scientific organization, but scientists should follow up on their work. If there is a single source, the government should remediate it. So many years after the closing of the paper mill that caused this disaster, it’s high time to put it to an end.