Re: Act now on Grassy Narrows, Letter June 11

Act now on Grassy Narrows, Letter June 11

It is imperative that we Canadians arouse ourselves and stop poisoning our indigenous people. For goodness sake let’s take concrete action to redeem ourselves, strive to correct historic wrongs. Where to begin?

Clean up the Wabigoon river bed. Mercury levels are on the rise again according to the latest reports. We can fly to the moon, yet we still haven’t a project underway guaranteed to put this dreadful mercury problem to bed, once and for all.

The chief of the Grassy Narrows Reserve, Simon Fobister Sr., recently wrote a poignant article for the Star in which he graciously acknowledged the apologies of federal and provincial leaders for past wrongs designed to destroy the First Nations peoples’ culture and identity.

The chief rightly deplored the display of pussy footing now underway respecting Wabigoon river mercury clean-up procedures.

Mercury poisoning is deadly. In the seventies I was part of a federal-provincial delegation which visited Minamata, Japan, where a mercury poisoning outbreak had been underway for several years. This outbreak had remarkable similarities to what was then occurring in Grassy Narrows, northern Ontario.

I visited the local hospital where the poisoned children were being cared for. What a terrible sight. Brain-damaged, misshapen children in their mother’s arms, the mother’s beseeching us for news of a cure. They thought, wrongly, that we, the wealthy, high-tech North Americans, surely were bringing news of a cure. Regrettably, not so! We were information gathering, that’s all.

Visions of those malformed children remain with me. The stable food of poor fisher folk children had been poisoned. Not too many people cared. Those responsible for the mercury pollution were slow to admit fault. Those affected were very poor people, with little voice to protect themselves.

Like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Kathleen Wynne is a good-hearted person. Ontarians were moved by her recent apology to the First Nations people for the horrific past wrongs inflicted upon them spanning over a century. But now the real work must begin. With respect to the mercury in the lakes and river bed, our two levels of government need to get it done, institute measures to prevent the poisoning of our Canadian indigenous people. That’s what Canadians want.

Equally concerning is the fact that drinking water supplies on a large number of reserves across Canada are contaminated by highly dangerous levels of infectious bacteria. This has been the case for decades, and government authorities have done little to correct this dreadful situation.

Words of sorrow concerning past wrongs are not enough. These words must be matched by actions.

Grassy Narrows Reserve families who use the Wabigoon river as one of their traditional sources of food, are being poisoned again by mercury contaminated fish. The children are in danger of being brain damaged.

Our political decision makers should not further shame the people of Ontario, of Canada, with lame excuses as to why the Wabigoon river cannot be cleaned up post haste, or why safe drinking water cannot be assured for our indigenous people. In the name of all decent Canadians, do it. Just do it.

Gerard C. Ronan, former assistant deputy minister, Ontario Ministry of the Environment