Ontario promised to get to the bottom of alleged mercury dumps upstream from Grassy Narrows. Instead, the province allowed a surge in mining claims on the Indigenous territory
Years after the Ontario government vowed to get to the bottom of two alleged mercury dumps upstream from Grassy Narrows First Nation, neither has been excavated.
In the meantime, the province has allowed a surge in gold mining claims throughout the Indigenous territory, with one company eager to start exploratory drilling in its northern forests.
A Torstar analysis has found a dramatic increase in active mining claims in Grassy Narrows, located about 100 kilometres north of Kenora in the northwest corner of Ontario.
As gold prices continue to soar, prospectors have staked nearly 4,000 active mining claims across Grassy Narrows traditional territory covering roughly 122,000 hectares — about double the size of the City of Toronto.
Since October 2018, the area covered by mineral claims has expanded fourfold, spreading across forests, rivers and lakes. That same month, the First Nation made a land declaration banning industrial activities — including mineral staking and mining — on its territory.
Grassy Narrows leaders and community residents are troubled that the Ontario government seems to be rolling out a red carpet to mining prospectors while dragging its feet in investigating and excavating the two alleged toxic mercury dump sites near a paper mill property upstream in Dryden, Ont.
“I was dismayed that Ontario still refuses to respect the will of my people, and concerned that further industrial activity could compound the harm that has already been done by mercury and clear-cutting,” Grassy Narrows First Nation Chief Randy Fobister said in an email.
Ontario’s environment ministry says it “recognizes the importance of determining if there are historic buried barrels containing mercury-contaminated waste at the Dryden mill site,” and is taking a staged approach to investigate the alleged dump sites. Some of that work will be done by current mill owner Domtar, the ministry said.
Toronto Star investigations have previously identified two suspected mercury dump sites upstream from the Indigenous community, where residents have long suffered mental and physical health problems due to mercury poisoning.
Details of the first site emerged when a retired casual mill labourer came forward out of “guilt” in 2015, saying that in 1972 he was part of a crew that dumped 50 drums of salt and mercury into a pit. The Star and environmental group Earthroots went to the site and found mercury readings in the soil that were up to 80 times natural levels. The province then conducted tests in the area, confirmed mercury was in the soil and with an electromagnetic surveying device detected possibly buried metal. It said in the winter of 2018 that excavation would begin that spring.
Since the labourer came forward, the Star has revealed that fish near Grassy Narrows remain the most contaminated in the province, and scientists strongly suspect that old mercury still contaminates the mill site and pollutes the river.
A second suspected mercury dump site was identified in 2019. The two alleged dumps suggest there is more old industrial mercury threatening the food chain that feeds Grassy Narrows and nearby Wabaseemoong (Whitedog) Independent Nations.
What is known is that between 1962 and 1970, the paper plant in Dryden, Ont., then owned by Reed Paper, dumped 10 tonnes of mercury, a potent neurotoxin, in the Wabigoon River. The mercury contaminated the fish and poisoned the people who ate the fish. They developed tremors, loss of muscle coordination, slurred speech and tunnel vision.
A spokesperson for Ontario’s Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines, which regulates mining, attributed the increase in gold claims to soaring mineral prices as well as the discovery of gold on a nearby property in 2018. The spokesperson noted that the overwhelming majority of claim registrations and exploration projects do not result in an operating mine.
At least one company is getting closer.
Trillium Gold, a British Columbia-based mining company formerly known as “Confederation,” has proposed what Grassy Narrows officials say would become the largest mining exploration project by far in its territory.
If the province approves its plan, Trillium’s pickup trucks and snowmobiles would traverse the forest 50 kilometres north of the Grassy Narrows community to a drill rig that would burrow beneath the soil to search for gold where locals often go for hunting, picking berries and gathering medicines.
But for now, while Grassy Narrows has concerns, the permit application process is on hold, resuming once the concerns have been resolved, Trillium’s CEO said.
“We have totally stood down and did so the minute Grassy Narrows made their concerns known to us and have cooperated at every level,” said Russell Starr, CEO of Trillium Gold.
Any licensed prospector can register a claim online for one or more available mining cells — parcels of land — using the province’s online tool Mining Lands Administration System (MLAS), which was launched in April 2018. It costs $50 to register a single cell.
Tim Groves, a researcher for Grassy Narrows advocacy group Freegrassy.net, first documented the surge in mining claims in the Grassy Narrows traditional territory earlier this year.
Though the government encourages claim holders to establish relationships with any Indigenous community that could be impacted by the mining, they are not required to do so.
Grassy Narrows officials say the community was kept out of the loop.
It was last fall when Chief Fobister said he finally got word of the claim staking boom that had been brewing on the traditional territory for more than two years.
“It’s the capitalist system of the world that feeds off of our resources. It’s just anywhere there is to make money … and that’s what we’re up against,” said Grassy Narrows resident Roberta Keesick.
There are mining claims on Keesick’s trapline, which is Grassy Narrows’ northernmost line and only 15 kilometres from where Trillium’s proposed exploratory drilling area, dubbed Leo project, is located. She traps in the old growth forests and spends time with her grandkids in log cabins, she said.
She worries that the clean drinking water and trout from Longlegged Lake and the habitats of a vibrant variety of wildlife would all be put at risk by the proposed activities.
These mining claims fall within the boundary of a proposed Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) that Grassy Narrows has been working with the federal government to develop.
The establishment of an IPCA is aimed to safeguard Indigenous rights — including the right to exercise free, prior and informed consent — while maintaining biodiversity, and securing a space where communities can practise Indigenous ways of life.
An energy ministry spokesperson said the government is aware of Grassy Narrows’ pursuit of IPCA designation. “They are still in the preliminary work phase and as such their proposed IPCA has not been finalized,” the spokesperson said.
“We’re already suffering. We don’t need any more suffering,” said JB Fobister, a Grassy Narrows resident.
Diagnosed with mercury poisoning two years ago, JB Fobister said he often wakes up in the middle of night with pain in his arms and legs. His children and grandchildren have developed tremors and learning disabilities.
The Star has reported on two alleged mercury dump sites near the mill — one located west of Gordon Road and the other just off Johnston Road, both in Dryden.
At the time the second dump site was alleged in 2019, an environment ministry spokesperson said the province took the concerns “very seriously” and was considering the “best approach” to investigate.
Neither site has been excavated and no timeline for the completion of that work has been set.
“Lives are at stake,” Chief Fobister said.
The environment ministry said it had undertook an assessment at the Gordon Road location and conducted a site visit at the Johnston Road location where barrels containing mercury were allegedly buried.
“Although there is no indication of buried barrels at either location, further work is required to confirm this,” the spokesperson said.
He also said the ministry is holding Domtar, current owner of the mill property, responsible for finding any ongoing mercury contamination.
Domtar’s work will, among other things, focus on quantifying mercury migration to the nearby Wabigoon River.
Domtar vice-president David Struhs says it is working with the government on a voluntary basis but has no plan to dig the two alleged dump sites.
The raging COVID-19 crisis has added pressure on a community that was already in distress due to mercury poisoning, the chief said, adding the mercury-related deaths continued to pile up.
The chief called for an immediate freeze on claim staking and mining exploration on the territory until the crisis is over.
“This drilling plan is a threat to who we are,” Chief Fobister wrote to Torstar. “We were upset that Ontario wants to allow a mining company to drill for gold on our territory which we love and rely on for our way of life.”
It is impossible to have a meaningful consultation about this proposed project under these circumstances, the chief told the ministry in his response to a notice for consultation about the permit for the proposed drilling program.
After repeated requests by Grassy Narrows officials, government representatives held a virtual meeting March 31 to discuss the recent mining interests. The representatives said at the meeting that the government hoped to approve the Trillium drilling permit once it had satisfied the duty to consult, Grassy Narrows officials said.
Chief Fobister said Trillium’s plan and approach for mining exploration in Grassy Narrows violates their Indigenous law and disrespects the people.
Grassy Narrow resident Keesick said she will not accept Trillium’s permit, even if approved by the government. “That’s our own land and that’s a piece of who we are. Our ancestors’ bones are buried on the land all over the territory.”
Keesick recalled the early 2000s when she and other local women chased out loggers at night, and the grandmother said she still had the fight in her.
“You think I’m gonna do nothing? You picked the wrong person,” she said.