The Ontario government seems to have backed away from a commitment made by the environment minister earlier in the week to clean up the river near Grassy Narrows.

Responding to a question in the legislature Wednesday, Environment Minister Glen Murray said the river would be cleaned up “to the satisfaction of the chief and the health of the people of Grassy Narrows.”

Murray’s comments came after a Star investigation found that fish from nearby Clay Lake and two points along the Wabigoon River near Grassy Narrows are the most mercury-contaminated in Ontario.

On Thursday, Grassy Narrows Chief Simon Fobister sent out a response to Murray’s comments, inviting Premier Kathleen Wynne to put this “historic commitment in writing and sign it alongside me in proper ceremony so that we can know it is real.”

“We have borne 54 years of poison and inaction — we need a firm timeline and a realistic budget to get this cleanup done as soon as humanly possible. We will not rest until our fish are safe to eat again,” Fobister said.

Wynne did not directly respond to a question from NDP environment critic Peter Tabuns Thursday about whether she would accept the chief’s invitation.

“We are committed to doing everything in our power to clean up Grassy Narrows, to take that mercury out of the ecosystem,” Wynne said.

“But, as I have said many, many times, we are not going to act in contradiction of science that would say that if we take certain actions we will make the situation worse,” she added.

While the government has earmarked money for more field testing, it appears there is no plan to clean up the river despite what environment minister Murray said Wednesday.

A report released this May by scientist Dr. John Rudd says the river system can be cleaned up and recommends a plan to do so largely based on a method called “resuspension” (when clean sediment is placed in the water so that it settles on the bottom of the lake to stabilize the mercury-contaminated sediment), as well as another technique that involves injecting nitrate or oxygen into the bottom of lakes.

The Star previously reported this method of resuspension was also recommended by Ontario’s environment minister in 1984. (The minister’s recommendation was prompted by a 1983 scientific report that Rudd was also part of.)

Instead, the province chose to allow the river to clean up naturally.

Scientists have told the Star that the dangerously high mercury levels in the river system today suggest there is an ongoing source that needs to be found and stopped.

“We recommended how to clean up the river after our studies were completed in the 1980s,” Rudd said in May. “More than 30 years later, after much further research, I’m even more convinced that these remedies will work.”

Murray said the government was committed to the first steps of the plan outlined in Rudd’s report that deals with field testing. “The work plan is the essential prerequisite to action,” Murray tweeted Thursday.

The province earmarked $600,000 in June for this field testing, though it has been criticized by the NDP for taking too long to release the funds with the result of scientists having lost time in the field.

In another press release Thursday, the David Suzuki Foundation called on the province to release more details. “While we applaud the minister for promising to act, we need an immediate commitment from the premier with a budget and timeline,” said Rachel Plotkin, the foundation’s science projects manager.

Suzuki is now being joined by 60 Canadian writers, including Margaret Atwood and Vincent Lam, who are echoing his calls to see the mercury contamination near Grassy Narrows cleaned up.

“I am deeply moved that writers in Canada stand with Grassy Narrows — to see that the right thing is done,” said Lam, who is also a medical doctor.

“It is time for this mess to be cleaned up.”