The Daily UbuntuThread 04 · Climate and Our Relationship to the Land · September 25, 2026
The river that gives life
At Grassy Narrows, mercury dumped upstream poisoned fish and families; decades of struggle have won commitments to repair.
1 · The scene
On the shore of a lake in Mauricie, a grandfather shows his granddaughter how to clean a walleye. She asks whether you can really eat it. He smiles, takes out his phone and checks the little fish consumption guide, as he does every summer.
"This one, we can," he says. Then he falls silent for a moment. He is thinking of those, farther away, for whom the answer has been no for fifty years, and for whom fish was supper, work and pride all at once.
Original vignette
2 · The documented case
The mercury of the Wabigoon River
Asubpeeschoseewagong, also known as Grassy Narrows, is a First Nation of about 1,000 members, 80 kilometres north of Kenora, Ontario. In the 1960s and early 1970s, a paper mill in Dryden, upstream, dumped mercury into the English-Wabigoon river system; CBC cites about 9,000 kilograms. The contamination was discovered in 1970. Fish, the basis of the diet and of employment, became a danger.
In 1985, an agreement paid a one-time compensation of $16.67 million to the affected communities, without cleaning up the river. In 2016, Japanese researchers who have followed the population for decades reported that more than 90% of people showed signs of mercury poisoning.
The community's perseverance eventually paid off. In June 2017, Ontario promised $85 million to clean up the river near Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoong. Ottawa committed in 2020, then in 2021, to fund an on-site care home for people affected, with an additional $68.9 million for its operation.
A river connects upstream and downstream. To repair is to recognize that those above and those below drink the same water, and that the care of one people concerns everyone.
3 · The voice
“This river is the lifeblood of my people.”
4 · The question
If the river flowing past your home had its source at someone else's, what would you expect of that upstream neighbour, and what do you owe them in return?
Sources
- CBC News, "Ontario announces $85M to clean up mercury near Grassy Narrows, Wabaseemoong First Nations," June 27, 2017. www.cbc.ca
- Indigenous Services Canada, revised framework agreement for the Grassy Narrows care home, July 26, 2021. www.canada.ca
- CBC News, "'A long time coming': Grassy Narrows welcomes long-term funding for unique mercury-care home," July 31, 2021. www.cbc.ca
Every figure on this page links to a verifiable public source.
Tags
Read also
Breathing next to Chemical Valley
In 2024, benzene spikes led Aamjiwnaang, near Sarnia, to declare a state of emergency, then to a pilot project against environmental racism.
ReadA'se'k, the harbour given back to the sea
For 53 years, a mill discharged its wastewater into a Mi'kmaw estuary; the community won an end to the discharges and a major cleanup.
ReadEnvironmental racism, right here
Who breathes the smoke, who lives next to the dump? Environmental racism raises the question of "us" on the scale of a whole territory.
Read