Plight of Grassy Narrows to be focus of Amnesty International letter-writing campaign
Indigenous youth and mercury survivors from Grassy Narrows First Nation delivered a message to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal Liberal government about the mercury poisoning the community has endured for five decades: No more talk, it is time for action.
“The message I would like to send out today is I hope (Prime Minister Trudeau) goes by his promises,” said Steve (Darwin) Fobister, a 22-year-old Grassy Narrows mercury survivor. “I hope he goes by what he said last term. Something needs to be done.”
At a press conference Monday at Thunderbird House in Winnipeg, it was announced that the plight of Grassy Narrows will be the focus of Amnesty International’s largest worldwide letter-writing campaign this year.
The annual Write for Rights event, which takes place around International Human Rights Day Dec. 10, is highlighting 10 cases of young people around the world who are experiencing human rights abuses, including the Indigenous Anishinaabe youth from the northwestern Ontario First Nation about 100 kilometres northeast of Kenora.
“Stop worrying about your reputation and start doing something about our water,” added Paris Meekis, a 15-year-old youth activist. “We’ve been suffering for the last 50 years and if you’re not going to do it, who will?”
In the 1960s and 1970s, a pulp mill dumped 10 tonnes of mercury into the English-Wabigoon River system upstream from Grassy Narrows First Nation, also known as Asubpeeschoseewagong. Today, the community’s vital waterways and fish are still contaminated, and people are still living with the devastating aftermath, including health problems, loss of their jobs, and erosion of their cultural traditions.
“This is a problem that happened 50 years ago and it’s still happening today,” said Fobister, who suffered seizures due to mercury poisoning for the first eight years of his life and almost died at age five and still suffers speech impairments and learning disabilities. “Especially the news I hear today that there are still hidden barrels. Who knows if there is still mercury leaking into the system, that’s what we want to hear about.”
“But like my late grandfather, Steve Fobister Sr., I will never give up until our waters are clean and our fish are safe to eat,” he added.
Amnesty International’s Write for Rights campaign invites people around the world to write messages of support to Grassy Narrows youth, and send letters to the Canadian government demanding concrete action. Like their parents and grandparents, Grassy youth are asking federal officials to build a mercury treatment facility and properly compensate community members.
“I hope that the government hears these youth and what they’ve been saying,” said Ana Collins, Amnesty International Canada’s Indigenous Rights Campaign Advisor. “I hope the government hears that there are millions of people around the world watching what they’re doing when they violate the human rights of Indigenous children. I hope Canadians hear that they are not alone in their solidarity with Indigenous peoples and their struggles and I hope that these youth do not feel alone and do not feel unheard any longer and that they can continue to feel supported.”
Former Indigenous services minister Jane Philpott pledged in late 2017 that Ottawa would fund the development and construction of a treatment facility for people exposed to mercury-related illnesses in Grassy Narrows.