A river polluted by a paper pulp company decades ago is still poisoning the First Nations community of Grassy Narrows in Ontario. Two years ago, a 17-year-old Grassy Narrows boy who suffered from mercury poisoning symptoms died in the hospital. And community members continue to report ongoing health issues.
Grassy Narrows First Nation members and allies have been calling for a thorough clean up since the 80s, but both the Federal and the Provincial government has always claimed that clean-up was impossible.
But a new report confirms that not only is it possible to clean-up the river, it’s been done in other rivers with similar contamination. It’s time for the government to stop making excuses, and start cleaning up the mess.
Send a message to Prime Minister Trudeau and Ontario Premier Wynne to clean up the river that is poisoning the community of Grassy Narrows.
Forty years ago, the Dryden Pulp and Paper Company dumped 9,000 kg of deadly mercury poison into the local river system, sparking a major health crisis in the downstream Grassy Narrows.
It’s the current government’s responsibility to clean up the mess left behind by the paper mill company. The on-going health crisis in the communities adds urgency to the problem. The report released this month shows that a clean up is absolutely possible.
Grassy Narrows community members have been travelling from their community to Toronto, to raise awareness and put pressure on the Ontario government. And tens of thousands of people have signed FreeGrassy.net’s petition on Leadnow’s website. Now SumOfUs is joining the fight -- please write a message and we will make sure it will reach Premier Wynne and Prime Minister Trudeau’s inbox.
Call on Justin Trudeau and Katherine Wynne to clean up the river before more people in Grassy Narrows are poisoned.
This campaign was started with support from members of FreeGrassy.net