June 8, 2012

Jon Thompson at Kenora Daily Miner

https://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3581717

 

 

Kathleen Wynne didn’t have time to stay for the mercury-tainted fish fry with Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation (Grassy Narrows) at Queen’s Park on Wednesday but the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs hoped the food for thought would soon turn to harvest.

Wynne served in place of Premier Dalton McGuinty, who missed the meeting with both leadership and grassroots activists from Grassy Narrows in its highly publicized week of political action known as River Run 2012.

The ministry and the band’s leadership have accused each other of not returning calls but Wynne saw the fish fry as an opportunity to reset discussion on the establishment of a inter-ministerial panel to explore mercury poisoning in the Wabigoon River system. She envisaged a table where her ministry will sit alongside the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of the Environment, and Grassy Narrows to reel in solutions.

“The bottom line is that nobody should be eating contaminated fish and there’s still an advisory on the fish,” she said, linking environmental and economic sustainability. “Fish is a food but it was also the basis of a local economy.”

On Monday, Grassy Narrows and Japanese scientists from the Center for Minamata Studies released a long-term report showing even those born after the Dryden paper mill stopped dumping mercury into the Wabigoon River are experiencing symptoms of mercury poisoning. To the community and researchers, those symptoms diagnose Minamata disease, an illness not recognized by the governments of Ontario and Canada.

“The issue here is that there are discrepancies between what Health Canada is saying and what the Harada Report are saying,” Wynne explained, adding she has made calls to the federal health ministry to investigate the gap. “They’ve washed their hands of it, from my perspective, but I believe we need to revisit that discussion again with Health Canada. They haven’t been testing for mercury levels, as far as I understand but I need to find out if and how they’ll re-engage.”

Grassy Narrows environmental activist Judy Dasilva praised Wynne’s courage to hear out her community’s concerns.

Dasilva stressed her communities’ priorities are compensation further to the $10 million paid to Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoong First Nation (Whitedog) in 1985, as well as cleaning up the watershed.

On the potential for an inter-ministerial panel, she insisted nation-to-nation conversations, rather than paternal policy making, will be the only route to success.

“It might be (effective) if they can go to the grassroots level,” she said, proposing a testimonial model whereby survivors and leaders could derive solutions. “The recommendation has to come not from them (government ministries) but from our own people.”