GRASSY NARROWS – New research suggests there’s no end in sight to his First Nation’s mercury-poisoning woes, and that comes as no surprise to Chief Rudy Turtle.
“We’ve always had some suspicion that there was still something being dumped into the Wabigoon River that’s causing problems, because our band members would drive by the river and see these suds and the discoloration of the river,” the Grassy Narrows chief said in an interview Friday.
“There’s always been suspicion that something else was going on,” he continued. “So we’re not surprised, but at the same time we’re very disappointed.”
A team led by Western University biologist Brian Branfireun looked into whether effluent from Dryden's pulp and paper mill is elevating mercury levels in the Wabigoon River. They concluded it definitely is.
“The chemistry of water that’s being discharged from the mill in Dryden today is amplifying the mercury problem above what we would expect it to be if that discharge were not occurring,” Branfireun said Thursday in an interview with Dougall Media.
The mill’s emissions include sulphate and organic matter in concentrations that are much higher than what is found naturally, according to the study.
Those contaminants stimulate the formation of methylmercury, the most toxic form of mercury.
“We can connect the dots” and conclude that there is a connection between the mill’s discharges today and mercury levels in fish downstream, Branfireun said.
The mill effluents are slowing recovery from the mercury contamination that hit Grassy Narrows First Nation hard in the 1960s and ’70s, he said.
A spokesperson for Dryden Fibre Canada, the mill’s owner, said in an email to Newswatch that they “care deeply about these matters” but “we only received a copy of these observations (Thursday) afternoon and we will review them carefully before commenting further.”
The email also noted that the company has owned the mill for less than a year.
The Dryden mill was purchased last year by a U.S. corporation called First Quality, which operates Dryden Fibre as a standalone company.
A previous owner released an estimated nine tonnes of mercury from the mill into the river in the 1960s, and the mercury contaminated fish downstream.
A public health catastrophe followed as Grassy Narrows First Nation members ate contaminated fish and suffered serious effects from it.
Many were diagnosed with Minamata disease, a neurological disorder with symptoms including numbness in hands and feet, muscle weakness, damage to hearing and sight, and problems in muscle control and reflexes.
A study published in the journal Environmental Health found mercury poisoning continues to have a profound impact on the physical and mental health of people in Grassy Narrows.
Turtle said Friday he hopes Branfireun’s work sparks change so that the Wabigoon River can eventually be restored to good health.
As well, he said, people in the governments of Canada and Ontario “should be held accountable” for their regulatory failures.
