Mercury Pollution in First Nation Communities
History
Between 1962 and 1970 2–4.5 kg of mercury effluent, totaling more than 10 tonnes were dumped into the Wabigoon River that feeds the water ways to Aamjiwnaang and Wabaseemoong First Nations (Grassy Narrows and White Dog). The Reed pulp and paper plant, 80 miles upstream in Dryden, Ontario, used mercury in the chloe-alkali plant to produce chlorine to bleach products. The company was ordered to cease mercury dumping by March 1970 and it was estimated by the Ontario Minister of Energy and Natural Resource Management that it would take 12 weeks before the mercury levels lowered in local fish. However, scientific reports estimated between 50 and 70 years for recovery. On multiple occasions between 1970 and 1975, when the Dryden Chemical Company claimed it had stopped releasing mercury, Ontario officials found levels 30 times above normal and absence of fish for 64 km downstream. Residents noticed strange behaviour in animals; cats stumbling in circles and salivating, and turkey vultures flying in disordered patterns.The Ontario government warned the First Nation residents to stop eating fish- a culturally and nutritionally significant staple, and close their commercial fishery- their most significant source of economy and the economic losses from the fishing ban sent the community from a “95% employment to 95% unemployment” rate. After doing so, hair and blood samples of Grassy Narrows and White Dog Residents showed excessively high blood mercury levels but the Canadian federal government denied the occurrence of Minamata disease and insisted that no serious typical cases were found in those regions. Bioaccumulation was not yet understood by scientists until 1969. In attempts to cover up the damage there a 1971 provincial report suggested that the mercury might have occurred naturally because of its chemical property. In addition signs and symptoms of Minamata disease were not fully understood at the time and presented as some similar to alcoholic inebriation, including loss of coordination and concentration and body tremors. Which after the liquor ban was lifted in 1956, allowed the government to dismiss mercury symptoms. In 50 years since the ministerial order to cease mercury dumping in the English– Wabigoon rivers and there has not been negotiations for settlement between The Dryden Chemical Company and the Grassy Narrows First Nation.
Bioaccumulation
A 2014 health study by Japanese experts found that in 1970, fish caught from the English-Wabigoon River system in northwestern Ontario indicated high levels of mercury contamination, the highest levels reaching 27.8 ppm and reports have continued to rise.In 1970, the highest hair mercury level in Grassy Narrows was 95.77 ppm, and 198 ppm in Whitedog. According to the Medical Services Branch, Health Canada contamination levels are decreasing since 1970. In 1975, the hair sample with the highest amount of mercury, collected from residents, was 80.3 ppm. 44 out of 71 residents showed mercury levels above 20 ppm and 23 indicated higher than 30 ppm. Mercury levels in the blood samples from the residents of Grassy Narrows were higher in 1970, averaging 46.37 ppb, the highest being 159 ppb. It was even higher in Whitedog, averaging 77.39 ppb and the highest being 385 ppb. Hair samples from the residents indicated higher mercury levels at the section of hair that grew during the summer, based on the increase of fish consumption within those months. With this data, the researchers examined a total of 89 residents from Grassy Narrows and Whitedog in 1975 and complied a list of various symptoms. The most frequently claimed subjective symptom was pain in the limbs (40 cases, 44.9%), numbness (28 cases, 31.4%) and cramps of the limbs (16 cases, 17.9%), were also common. Neurological symptoms, such as sensory disturbances (15 cases, 16.8%), (perioral) (5 cases, 5.6%), concentric constriction of the visual field (9 cases, 10.1%), ataxia (8 cases, 8.9%), tremor (21 cases, 23.5%), were also present. All of these symptoms are found among Minamata Disease patients as well as others who indicated higher mercury levels or mild Minamata.
Devestation and Impacts on First Nation Communities
The mercury poisoning has destroyed a once profitable area, the people used to be able to hunt and fish the land, but with effects of this pollution has effected them deeply as well. First Nations people were forced to close their commercial fishery, their most significant source of economy and the economic losses from the fishing ban sent the community from a “95% employment to 95% unemployment” rate. Victims who suffer the horrors of the Minamata Disease symptoms who have come forward and been approved by the Mercury Disability Board (MDB), receive monthly payments from as low as $250 a month to pay for medical treatments and atone for their losses. The rest who died as a result of their illnesses or who were rejected by the board do not receive compensation. Members of the community do not receive adequate funding or access to proper health care. Many are forced to leave their homes and move to bigger locations where they can receive medical care. Some cannot afford to come back and see family members. If they are able to receive care they often struggle in being discriminated due to systematic reiteration of oppressive stereotypes that place the blame on the people trying to get help.
Current Development in Research and Remediation
In 1986, Jack Donovan,an Ontario economist wrote a report on behalf of the provincial government advising against cleaning up mercury contamination and concluded that it would require $20 million dollars over 6 years to dredge the English-Wabigoon river system and this would not be “economically viable”.In 2011, Ontario's Ministry of Environment issued a remediation order against pulp and paper giants Weyerhaeuser and Resolute in the Dryden region, regarding a mercury disposal site on the mill property.The companies fought the order and in 2015, the Ontario Superior Court sided with them. The ruling implicated the 1979 decision by the government to encourage the sale of the paper mill Grassy Narrows and Whitedog First Nation were suing the company owners for mercury contamination. The companies were offered protection from environmental liability by the province in part because "enabling the modernization and upgrading of the plant in the community of Dryden was deemed to be in the public interest," according to court documents. In 2017, the Ontario government announced that it would secure $85 million in a trust to “cleaning” and “surveying” the mercury contamination in the English-Wabigoon River system. However, Liberal government has not released specifics into the timeliness or methods of remediation of the river system. Victims of mercury poisoning who have come forward and been approved by the Mercury Disability Board (MDB), receive monthly payments from as low as $250 a month to pay for medical treatments and atone for their losses. The rest who died as a result of their illnesses or who were rejected by the board do not receive compensation. There continues to be a fight from communities and protestors who believe that these people deserve better and various rallies, and media continue to press the federal government to do something.
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