THUNDER BAY – A large group of Grassy Narrows First Nation members will march on Queen’s Park this afternoon to raise awareness about mercury contamination that has impacted the community for nearly 60 years and demand that the Dryden Paper Mill be shut down.

The River Run 2024: Walk with Grassy Narrows for Mercury Justice will begin in Grange Park at noon and make its way to Queen’s Park.

A caravan of more than 60 Grassy Narrow members have been travelling through Northwestern Ontario this summer on the way to Toronto. It is expected supporters from across the province will join the rally.

For decades, the people of Grassy Narrows, or Asubpeeschoseewagong, First Nation have been speaking out about mercury contamination of the English-Wabigoon River system. It is estimated that in the 1960s and 1970s, the Dryden Paper Mill dumped more than nine tonnes of mercury into the river system.

The contamination has resulted in numerous negative impacts on the community, including generational health issues from mercury poisoning and contaminated fish and wildlife.

Last week, a caravan of a dozen Grassy Narrow members stopped in Thunder Bay on the way to Southern Ontario and held a rally.

Chrissy Isaacs, organizer of the caravan, said she was born at the peak of the mercury contamination and was exposed in utero.  

“I want to see justice for my community, I want to see for all our people to be compensated,” Isaacs said in Thunder Bay last week. “We’ve been robbed a way of life. We’ve been robbed even of our own health. I want to see the mill shut down.”

A study released last May conducted by the University of Western Ontario found the mercury contamination is being made worse by pollutants still being released from the Dryden mill.

“In May, a study showed effluent from the mill is still making the problem worse,” Isaacs said.  “There is going to be something done because it is my children’s life at stake and it is my grandchildren’s life at stake. So we are going to shut it down.”

In June, the community filed a civil action alleging the provincial and federal governments failed to uphold treaty rights and protect the members of Grassy Narrows First Nation from mercury contamination.