No Grassy mercury deal signed after O’Regan visit
GRASSY NARROWS FIRST NATION — Federal Indigenous Services Minister Seamus O’Regan’s visit to Grassy Narrows First Nation did not go as planned.
The minister and Grassy Narrows First Nation Chief Rudy Turtle were set to sign a memorandum of agreement “outlining a path forward to meet the long-term health needs of the community which has been impacted by exposure to mercury” at noon Wednesday, May 29, the federal government told media.
Instead, the chief and the federal minister spent hours deliberating over the terms of the agreement. At the end of the day, no agreement was signed.
The community is plagued with the effects of mercury contamination, stemming from when a paper company in Dryden dumped 9,000 kilograms of it into the English-Wabigoon river system in the 1960s.
Two years ago, the previous minister on the file announced the federal government would fund and build a specialized mercury health care facility. A feasibility study completed last fall estimated the cost at $88.7 million.
Turtle wants that $88.7 million put into a legal trust so the project can continue regardless of the outcome of the fall federal election, he recently told the Canadian Press. He also wants a legal agreement, rather than a memorandum of understanding, he told the Canadian Press.
Also at issue is the facility itself.
The community wants a specialized mercury health care facility, Turtle told reporters outside of the Grassy Narrows First Nation band office Wednesday.
Instead, the federal government offered an assisted living facility, Turtle said.
“We’re still pushing for what we want, and we’re working hard to make sure that Grassy gets the best deal it can for the community,” Turtle said. “The minster came in today and he was hoping we would sign a memorandum of agreement, but the proposal they put forward was not adequate. It wasn’t good enough.”
“We are getting very close. This is what negotiation looks like. It takes its own course,” O’Regan told reporters outside the band office.
Asked whether the federal government would consider signing a legal document, O’Regan said “We are working away at it. We are negotiating right now.”
Asked when an agreement may be signed, O’Regan said hopefully within the next few days.
The community made a feast of walleye and seven turkeys for the visit. Community members and about 150 students from Sakatcheway Anishinabe School were in the school gym waiting for the minister and chief.
“There was 150 children and families standing there waiting, waiting for you to show up to hear their stories,” a community member, Chrissy Isaacs, told the minister while he was talking to reporters.
“I think it’s an insult,” Isaacs said. “We have kids that are suffering every day, people that are dying every day.”
“We’re here with the same purpose. We want to get things moving,” O’Regan said in response.